Sea Stone (Updated Version)
by Caroline98
Summary: Erisa and her best friend get caught cheating on pirates. Unfortunately, those pirates take the two friends hostage and almost kill them. But luckily the Whitebeard Pirates happen to attack and decide to take the two with them. What will the two girls do on a ship full of male pirates? And what about their respective romantic interests? Original Story by DreamAngel2713
1. Chapter 1: Caught

**Chapter 1: Caught**

_You've got to be kidding me. I'm totally going to kill her! _Erisa thought to herself as she looked down at her cuffed hands in defeat.

_Why does she always not listen to what I say! _She thought to herself as she took a look around the dark gloomy prison for her best friend, but it was so dark that she couldn't see anything, when all of a sudden she heard someone coming near her cell.

"Well, well, Princess I hope that you've had time to say your goodbyes 'cause you know what my orders are?" The nasty looking pirate said to her as he flashed Erisa a nasty grin.

"I've told you my name is not 'Princess'," Erisa said staring back with as mean of a stare that she could possibly manage, not even wanting to look at him.

"My orders are that you're coming with me Princess, to main deck where the Captain has set up a little party just for you," the nasty pirate answered totally ignoring Erisa's previous statement as he started to unlock her cell door.

Erisa's mind raced as she desperately tried to think of a plan to escape. The pirate grabbed her roughly as he pulled her out of the dark cell and started dragging her out the prison. Erisa tried her best to kick and escape the pirate's grasp, but he had her in an iron grip.

_Uh! Why do things like this always have to happen to me!? _Erisa thought to herself as she recalled the events that got her thrown on the Hell Hounds pirate ship in the first place.

**~Earlier in the day~**

"Damn it to hell! How does this teenage brat manage to keep winning?!" One of the few hundred angry men in the bar said in a rage as he pointed towards Victoria. Erisa's best friend had once again taken another man's money.

"Well, I just practice a lot," Victoria said, grinning as she ran her hand through her blonde hair as she looked up at the angry man who stormed off in a fit of anger.

"Ok Victoria, I think this is enough. We shouldn't push our luck," Erisa reminded her best friend nervously.

"I mean, it's only a matter of time before they catch on that you're cheating," Erisa said, looking at a grinning Victoria

"Yeah, you are probably right Erisa," Victoria said as she smiled at her.

"Aren't I always?" Erisa said grinning as she picked up the pile of money on the table.

Gambling was something that Erisa and Victoria did when they were bored out of their minds or when they wanted something but didn't have enough money. Though Victoria actually sucked pretty bad, so Erisa was always the one who would tell her what moves to make and look at the other guys' cards and tell her what to do. Since she had been the type to not want to do those sort of things herself. Which meant that they were cheating in order to win. Though Erisa was just glad that everyone they would play with in the bar was either drunk, or just too stupid to figure it out.

Erisa had known Victoria ever since they were little, and they were total opposites. Erisa had a tall slender built with dark brown hair which she kept in loose curls that would go a little past her shoulders. Victoria was taller than her, had blonde hair, and a freakishly large chest which always made her popular with the boys. That and, unlike Erisa who was always tended to be shy around guys she thought were attractive, Victoria would just flirt away. Their parents had been best friends, so when Erisa's parents passed away they were the ones who took her in. Though most people were shocked that they did due to the fact that Victoria had three older sisters who her parents thought were the world . But they never really paid any attention to her or Victoria, which had always made Erisa feel bad since she knew that this made Victoria feel especially bad.

Though even with all of that going on, Erisa never saw her get depressed or anything which was something she admired in her best friend.

Just as they were about to leave the bar, they heard a group of nasty looking pirates walk over to them as they slammed their hands against the table, making Erisa and Victoria glare up at them.

"Mind if we have a quick game Princess?" One of the nasty men said as he looked over at Erisa and flashed a grin.

"My name is not 'Princess'," Erisa said as she repeated what the man said in a mocking tone, making his eyes light up in anger before turning his eyes towards Victioria.

"Well, how 'bout it?"

"You're on," Victoria said, making Erisa's eyes widen in shock.

_What in the world is she doing? Does she not realize that they are part of the Hell Hound Pirates?! _Erisa thought to herself as she watched Victoria deal the cards.

The Hell Hound Pirates were the most hated Pirates on the island. They were cruel and were known to just shoot people on site, if they had a problem with them. Even though most of them seemed pretty weak, Erisa still had an uneasy feeling.

And that was when it happened. It happened so quick that Erisa could barely remember the whole thing. First everything was going fine, then next thing Erisa knew, one of the pirates caught her cheating and was sent into an angry rage. Or well, she hadn't of been caught in the action but apparently they had already known before the game even started that they cheated to win games. Since a group of the Hell Hound Pirates played against Erisa and Victoria last week who were supposedly "the best". Then right when they lost the game, they had heard a rumor that Erisa and Victoria were winning by cheating and that was why these Hell Hound Pirates had challenged them, to see if it was true. So all of a sudden the pirates had attacked them, knocking first Victoria then Erisa herself unconscious.

**~End of Flash Back~**

Erisa cringed in pain as he roughly threw her across the top deck. The sun shone brightly, making her frown up her eyes, until they focused on the daylight. She looked in front of her in horror as she saw a sea of burly men gathered on the main deck, grinning and howling at her.

"Erisa!" She heard Victoria's voice yell as she turned to see her friend also in cuffs, though quite a distance away from her.

"Victoria! You okay!?" Erisa yelled over the loud voices of the whole crew. When just before she could hear Victoria's reply, the crew went silent. They started making a path as the captain slowly made his way towards Erisa, making her heart pound faster with every step. Until he finally stood right in front of her.

"Well, well, I've heard so much about you and your little friend over there," he said as he flashed her such a nasty grin that it made Erisa want to gag.

**A/N: Hello again. This is another corrected story I did. As always I don't own anything, no claim whatsoever. So I hope that the author's not mad at me for doing this but if he were, then please contact me on my account. Story and OCs belong to DreamAngel2713.**


	2. Chapter 2: Bigger Problems

**Chapter 2: Bigger Problems**

The more the captain of the Hell Hound pirates looked down at Erisa, the more she wanted to gag. He was a short fat man with a twisted scar claw mark that went down half his face as well as a shark like grin, except unlike sharks he was missing a couple teeth. Erisa also couldn't help but notice that he leaned more on his right leg then his left as his hand rested on his wooden cane which, at the very top, had a figurine of the mythological three headed dog. But it wasn't so much the matter of physical appearance that made her want to gag. It was the way he was looking at her. He looked at her like a hunter looked just before he was about to kill off his prey.

"You sure are a pretty little thing," he said to Erisa as he reached forward and ran his rough hand across the side of her face, angering him as she turned her face away from his hand.

"What do you want with me and my friend?" Erisa said as she glared up at the captain, struggling to keep the anger out of her tone. Last thing she wanted was to make her and Victoria's situation any worse.

"What do I want? I want revenge!" He shouted to his crew as they all started chanting the word 'Revenge' over and over again.

"You two, dare I say women, have made a mockery out of the Hell Hounds! And you will pay with your lives!" The captain screamed out to his crew as he pointed his cane towards the sky as they cheered even louder at his words.

Erisa couldn't help but feel fear creeping up her spine as she heard the loud roars of the crew members. Erisa then turned her head to look over at Victoria, who was now seething with rage.

_Damn it! Please, please, please Victoria don't say what I think you're going to say! Don't piss them off anymore than they are! _Erisa thought in horror as she pleaded with her eyes at Victoria.

Victoria then, seeming to already know what Erisa was thinking, mouthed the word 'Screw it' as she then yelled at the top of her lungs.

"KISS MY ASS, YOU AND YOUR BULLSHIT CREW!" Victoria screamed out in the direction of the captain, making everyone on the ship go quiet. At these words the captain turned his head away from Erisa to stare at Victoria.

"What did you just say to me little girl? I didn't quite catch it," he said to Victoria, his voice monotone but Erisa could see the rage in his eyes.

"I said KIS-" Before Victoria could finish what she was saying, the man standing next to her slapped her hard across the face, making Erisa shake in anger.

"Don't you disrespect the captain like that!" The man said as Victoria raised her head to look at him, her cheek bearing his bright red hand print. She then looked up at him with such anger it made the man take a few steps back.

"You know what? I was actually going to give you brats a quick death but now you've _really _pissed me off," the captain hissed. "And now your little outburst is going to cause your friend here to suffer!" He said as he looked away from Victoria to face Erisa.

"Men, bring the box!" The captain yelled as the whole crew began to cheer.

"NO! Please! I'm sorry! Punish me, not her!" Victoria yelled as she looked over at a stunned Erisa, her eyes filled with regret as she tried to shake free from the man's hold on her with no use.

_The box. What is he talking about? _Erisa wondered, her heart pounding as she thought up all of the horrible things that "the box" held inside.

One of the crew members then handed the captain a medium sized box. The captain then came uncomfortably close to Erisa as the whole crew went silent and he opened the box.

Erisa's eyes widened in shock as the captain pulled out a green apple shaped Devil Fruit covered in swirls.

"I-I-It's a D-d-devil Fruit," Erisa stuttered as she couldn't help but stare at the weird looking fruit. She had actually never seen a devil fruit in real life, only in books. And only once had she actually seen someone use Devil Fruit powers.

"Yes, a Devil Fruit." The captain smirked. "And you are going to eat it. Then I'm going to throw you over board and wait 'till you will drown to your death as your friend over their watches."

"You're sick!" Victoria yelled at him as he and the rest of the crew started laughing. Though Erisa could barely hear any of them as her mind was flooded with a mixture between fear, panic, and shock.

Erisa knew just as well as anyone what happened to people with Devil Fruit abilities. Not only did you lose your ability to swim, but you were alienated. People feared you; often hated you.

_I really am going to die here. Once they throw me into the water I'm doomed! _Erisa thought. Suddenly she remembered that she was hand cuffed with metal, not Sea Stone.

_They actually forgot that the only way you can hold Devil Fruit users is with Sea stone! _Erisa thought to herself as she filled with hope, becoming thankful for the countless hours she had spent reading in the Library on the island.

_Although, the only hope I have of escaping depends on what power from the fruit I get._ Erisa thought as she weighed the chances in her mind of actually getting a power that could help her and Victoria get out of their current situation. The odds of getting the right fruit were slim.

"Well, take a bite little girl! Or if you refuse…" The captain snickered as he nodded towards the man that stood next to Victoria. He then pulled out a pistol and pointed it at Victoria.

_There's no other way. _Erisa thought to herself as she looked over at Victoria, then back at the Devil Fruit.

_Please don't let me turn into something like an elephant! _Erisa thought as she leaned forward and took a bite out of the Devil Fruit.


	3. Chapter 3: More Pirates

**Chapter 3: More Pirates?**

The minute Erisa took a bite out of the Devil Fruit, she was rewarded with a disgusting bitter taste that spread throughout her mouth. It made Erisa frown with disgust as she swallowed the piece that she had bitten off.

_That's the most disgusting thing I have ever eaten in my life! _Erisa thought to herself when all of sudden, Erisa felt weird tingles throughout her whole body.

_Damn! If I could only figure out what power this fruit gave me! Think Erisa, think! _Erisa thought to herself as she looked over at a very worried looking Victoria, then at the awe struck crew. She then recalled the words she had read about Devil Fruits when she was at the library at the island.

_I remember now! The only way I can activate my ability is if I call out the name of the fruit! _Erisa thought to herself right before reality struck her right in the face. She had no clue what the name of her Devil Fruit was. Sure she had read the identification book on Devil Fruits, but the book only listed the names of the fruits and their abilities, not any pictures of the fruit.

"Well captain, what do you think the fruit was?" One of the crew members said to the captain as the whole ship went silent, all staring curiously at Erisa and trying to figure out what power she had received.

"You idiot! How am I supposed to know!?" The captain said to the man who'd asked the question.

"Hey sir, I found an identification book, and I think I found the fruit!" Another man yelled as he came up from the below deck, holding a thick dusty brown book. The captain looked down at Erisa who was glaring at him intensely before he called a couple of his men over to her.

"You all watch our little princess here. We wouldn't want her to get any ideas," the captain said to all of the men as they all resounded with a 'yes'.

_If only I could hear what they're saying! _Erisa thought to herself as she tried her best to focus on what they were saying.

She couldn't really hear what they were saying, just that it sounded like they were arguing. All of a sudden a the man's voice rang out.

"But captain! How was I supposed to know that it was the Goei Goei no mi?!" The man shouted out at the captain before covering his own mouth and looking at the Captain apologetically.

"YOU IDIOT! YOU JUST LET HER KNOW THE NAME OF THAT DEVIL FRUIT!" The captain yelled as he lit up in anger. He pulled the pistol out of his coat and shot the man dead before yelling at the men guarding Erisa.

_The Goei Goei no mi? I remember reading about that one! It's a paramecia which gives the user the power to project a force field like shield in any direction around the user's body. Though the weakness being that it can only protect that part of their body- not their whole body. So if I were to shield the front of me, someone could attack me from the back._

"ENOUGH OF THIS! QUICKLY THROW HER OFF THE BO-" All of a sudden his words were cut off by a violent crash that sent everyone on the deck sliding. Erisa rolled violently as her back painfully hit the edge of the boat, her hands still cuffed. Her face paled as she heard the man in the crow's nest scream like bloody murder.

"CAPTAIN WE ARE BEING INVADED BY THE WHITE BEARD PIRATES!" Right as he finished his sentence, the White Beard Pirates started hoping on the boat with their weapons drawn as they started attacking every pirate they saw.

_Holy crap! I've got to get outta here! This is an all out war! _Erisa thought as she got to her feet only to have a pirate heading straight at her with a sharp sword in hand.

"YOU die here Princess!" Yelled the pirate.

"Well, here goes nothing! Goei Goei Block!" Erisa yelled, closing her eyes as the pirate brought his sword down on her.

Erisa opened her eyes slowly before yelling with joy as she looked upon the light green glass like shield that held the pirate's sword away from her with ease.

"Yes! Bet you didn't see that coming!" She shouted as the pirate looked at her in fear as he turned and ran away from her.

"Now I can get the hell outta here," Erisa said as she ran across the boat, letting her shield drop, dodging the fighting pirates as she ran towards Victoria who was tied to the mast and grinning like hell, sticking out her legs and tripping unaware pirates as they ran by.

"Victoria, you ok?" Erisa said, having to raise her voice over the shrieks and cries of the fighting pirate crews.

"Yeah, I'm fine! This is all so crazy! Are you ok!?" Victoria said as Erisa looked at her in amazement

_Leave it to Victoria to actually be enjoying all of this! _Erisa thought as she looked at her best friend's eyes that were lit up with excitement.

"Yes, I'm-" Before Erisa could finish her sentence, she found herself in an iron lock of none other than the captain of the Hell Hound Pirates. He was bleeding profusely and carried her towards the edge of the ship, making Erisa try and kick at him in panic as she forgot all about her Devil Fruit abilities.

"If I'm gonna die here today than I'm taking you with me princess!" The captain said, laughing like a manic as he lifted a screaming Erisa over his head.

He was about to throw her overboard when all of a sudden, Erisa had the wind knocked out of her, feeling someone's strong, warm arms wrap around her tightly as she hit the ground.

"You ok?" A smooth voice said, causing Erisa to open her eyes slowly.

Erisa then felt herself blush as she looked into a pair of dark brown eyes and light brown freckles that were lightly sprinkled across the boy's cheeks.

_Whoa, he's very handsome. _Erisa couldn't help but think to herself as the boy grinned down at her.

"Well, you don't look hurt," he said as he pulled Erisa off the ground, which only made Erisa blush even more as she realized that he wasn't even wearing a shirt, revealing his perfectly defined chest. He bent over to the ground and grabbed his orange hat off the ground and placed it on his head, revealing a large tattoo of The White Beard Pirates, making Erisa now realize who he was.

"You're Portgas D. Ace, second division captain of the White Beard Pirates," Erisa said, not knowing if she should feel thankful that he saved her or worried that she was now in the hands of a pirate with an even bigger bounty as she saw him grin.

"Well, let's go," Ace said as he suddenly lifted Erisa off the ground and threw her over his shoulders like a sack of potatoes.


	4. Chapter 4: The Rescue

**Chapter 4: The Rescue**

"Hey! What in the world are you doing! Put me down!" Erisa said from over Ace's shoulder as she started kicking her feet, trying to get free of his grasp on her.

_I don't know who she is, or why she was on this ship but she's handcuffed so they must have had her here for some reason. _Ace thought to himself before his chest started burning with all of the kicks that he was receiving from the stubborn girl.

_Well, I can't leave her on this burning pirate ship. I guess I'll just bring her to the Old Man. _Ace thought to himself as he looked around the now burning pirate ship.

"Will you quit kicking me! I'm trying to get you off of this boat!" Ace said, his voice irritated due to the many kicks he was receiving from Erisa.

"Take me where!? How do I know you're not just going to kill me!?" Erisa yelled at Ace. Her voice was questioning as she started to become more and more angry at him.

"Well, if you keep kicking me I just might..." Ace mumbled to himself as he slowly started to climb the ladder back across to White Beard's ship.

_That ship is so huge! _Erisa thought to herself as she looked up at White Beard's giant ship The Moby Dick, which towered over The Hell Hounds boat, making the Hell Hound ship look like a toy boat in comparison.

Suddenly Erisa remembered that Victoria was still on the Hell Hounds' burning ship, causing her to yell out at Ace, almost making him loose his balance and making both of them fall in the water.

"Wait! Please! We can't leave! My friend, she's still tied to the mast!" Erisa yelled up at him as she felt him take a deep breath before yelling out some guy's name.

"MARCO! HEY MARCO!" She heard Ace yell as a blonde haired man looked over the side of the Moby Dick.

"Yeah Ace, what do you want?" Marco said as he eyed Ace with a curious look. His eyes focused in on Erisa, who _still_ hung like a sack of potatoes over his shoulder.

_Who is the girl that Ace is carrying on his shoulder?_ Marco thought to himself before being interrupted by Ace's voice.

"Marco! There is a girl tied to the mast of that ship! Could you go get her before that thing sinks?!" Ace said as Marco helped him and a very pale looking Erisa onto the deck of the Moby Dick.

"Yeah, I got it," Marco said as he activated his Devil Fruit. His arms lighting up in bright blue and yellow flames, he wasted no time in flying down to the Hell Hounds' small burning ship.

"He-He- can fly?" Erisa stuttered out loud in utter shock as Ace carefully sat her down on the deck of the Moby Dick. She quickly got up and watched Marco fly down to the ship in awe.

"Yeah, Marco ate the Mythical Zoan type Devil Fruit and he's also first commander of the White Beard Pirates," Ace said, grinning at Erisa's expression as she watched Marco still in shock before she turned around to face him.

Erisa looked around the huge deck of the Moby Dick in awe. She started to feel very nervous as she saw tons of crew members gathered on the deck, all staring at her. Her mouth then dropped as she looked to see a huge man sitting in a chair with medical lines connected to him as he, too looked down at her with a hard stare.

_This has to be White Beard. _Erisa thought, the tension in the air became so thick you could almost cut it with a knife.

(~o0o~)

_Damn it! I'm going to be burned alive!_ Victoria thought in horror as she desperately pulled on her bound hands. The flames grew taller and Victoria saw more and more pirates start jumping off the side of the boat. She started choking from all of the smoke in the air when suddenly, she felt someone cut loose her hands.

"Hey, I'm here to get you out of here," she heard a man say as she was suddenly pulled to her feet. Someone grabbed onto her wrist and started running at such a pace Victoria could barely keep up.

"Hey! Where are you dragging me to!" Victoria shouted at the stranger as he then suddenly stopped abruptly, causing Victoria to run straight into the stranger's back.

"Hey! Steady the ladder!" Victoria heard a strong manly voice call out as her eyes started to focus in on the man in front of her, his blonde hair being the first thing she saw.

"Hey! Climb on my back so I can get you out of here," the stranger said as he motioned Victoria to climb onto him. Victoria then quickly climbed onto his back, not even thinking about it twice as she looked back at the burning ship. She then clung to the stranger for dear life.

_Ah! This girl is choking me! _Marco thought to himself as he made his way up the ladder to the deck of the Moby Dick. When he reached the deck of the Moby Dick, he had to peel the frightened girl off him as he watched as her brown hair friend, who Ace had carried up rushed toward him and the girl he had just rescued.

"Thank you so much!" Erisa said to the blonde man who she remembered Ace had called Marco who stood there and nodded at her.

_He too is actually quite attractive. _Erisa thought to herself, now that she got a better look at him. Though she could tell he was much older than Ace, just by the way he looked. He, too bore the symbol of the White Beard pirates, although its shape was slightly different and it was placed on his chest without the skull.

_What is it with guys on this ship and no shirts?_ Erisa thought to herself as she also noticed that Marco wore just an open purple jacket which showed his lean but muscular chest. It was followed by a light blue sash and an elaborate brown and golden belt paired with knee length gray pants.

She then snapped out of her gawking as she bent down to sit by Victoria who was sitting on the deck of the Moby Dick, strangely quiet.

"Hey Victoria, are you alright?" Erisa said as she, too caught Victoria looking over Marco before Victoria turned to face Erisa and hugged her tightly.

"Yeah. I'm so sorry I dragged you into that. It's all my fault," Victoria said as her voice filled with regret and sadness.

"It's just as much of my fault as it's yours," Erisa said as she looked at Victoria and smiled, making her grin.

"Well, at least we are off the shitty ship!" Victoria said with a light laugh as she and Erisa got up from the ground to now face the audience of the new pirate crew that stared at them, followed by their burly captain who now cleared his throat loudly. He looked at the two of them before looking at Ace and Marco.

"Ace, Marco. Who are these strange kids that you have brought onto my boat?" White Beard's thick voice boomed, causing both Erisa and Victoria to look at each other and gulp.


	5. Chapter 5: White Beard

**Chapter 5: White Beard**

Ace and Marco looked at each before silently agreeing that Ace should be the one to explain since he had brought Erisa on the ship first.

"Well Old Man these two girls came from the ship we just invaded. They were prisoners for some reason and I actually rescued that one from being killed by the captain," Ace explained to White Beard as he looked over at Erisa, who was still getting over the fact of how intimidating White Beard was.

"Brat with the curls, is what Ace says true?" White Beard said, staring at Erisa with a questioning look.

"Yes, we were prisoners on the Hell Hound Ship and Ace saved my life before the captain could throw me overboard," Erisa said, trying to leave the nervous shake out of her voice.

"Throw you overboard? Are you a Devil Fruit user?" Marco interrupted, looking towards Ace to see if he knew anything about it. He just looked at Erisa with the same look that all of White Beard's crew members wore on their face - total confusion.

Erisa, seeing the look of confusion everybody had on their face, then decided to explain the situation.

"My name is Erisa Hubtown. I'm 18 years old and that's my best friend who I have lived with ever since my parents were killed, Victoria Hemings," Erisa said, feeling kinda bad that she didn't introduce herself earlier.

"I'm 21 by the way," Victoria added in with a grin as she gave a slight wave.

"I'm Edward Newgate, captain of the White Beard Pirates, and this is my ship the Moby Dick as well as my crew," White Beard said as he took another drink of his huge mug of sake. Ace, Marco, and some other guy then stepped forward as well to formally introduce themselves.

"I'm the first division captain, Marco," Marco said as he smiled politely at Erisa and Victoria.

"I'm second division captain, Portgas D. Ace, so you can just call me Ace," Ace said as he bowed politely.

"And I'm the fourth division captain, Thatch," a tall man said with a brown pompadour hairstyle followed by black goatee and posh uniform. He waved at Erisa and Victoria, who were now starting to feel better about the White Beard pirates.

_Who knew pirates could have such manners! _Erisa thought to herself, truly amazed about how civil the so call "fiercest pirates" were.

"So, just how exactly did you two end up as prisoners on that ship anyways? I mean, you two certainly don't strike me as pirates," Ace said, looking at them curiously.

"We were kidnapped by the Hell Hound Pirates because they were mad that we had cheated them out of a gambling game. So they threw us on their ship and were planning to kill us. But before they did, the captain forced me to eat the Goei Goei no mi Devil Fruit so that he could throw me overboard and then shoot Victoria. And that was when you guys invaded and Ace and Marco saved us," Erisa said, taking a deep breath after explaining the long story.

"Sounds like quite the sick bastard to me," Ace said as he frowned at the thought of someone thinking up such a twisted way to kill somebody.

"Certainly no way to treat a lady," Thatch added in as he leaned casually on the boat's railing.

"They must have lost pretty bad to be that pissed," Marco stated as he then turned to see White Beard grinning at the two girls.

"Gambling, huh?" White Beard said as he then started laughing a throaty laugh that caught everybody off guard.

"Hey! What happened was certainly not-" Victoria almost said before Erisa interrupted her by putting her hand over her mouth

"So how do you two exactly plan to get back to..." White Beard asked, making Erisa feel embarrassed. She didn't even mention the name of their island that they came from.

"Elkwood Pier," Erisa said as Victoria nodded beside her in agreement.

"So I'm guessing you need me to drop you two brats back there then?" White Beard said to them as he took another giant gulp of sake before slamming the empty cup on the floor of the deck.

"Uh…well yes if-if you wouldn't mind. We'd be sure to pull our weight around here in the mean time!" Erisa said as Victoria seemed to glare at the mentioning of having to work.

White Beard looked at Erisa and Victoria for a long time before he exhaled loudly, "Ace, Marco please show our guest where they will be staying."

The whole crew went silent in shock. It was obvious that none of them had expected him to let two girls stay on the ship, let alone drop them back home.

Just before Erisa and Victoria could say thank you, one of the crew members suddenly broke the silence as he ran up to White Beard, newspaper in hand.

"Hey captain! That pompous captain that you wanted to keep tabs on has taken down yet another group of marines!" The man said as he handed the paper into White Beard's abnormally big hands.

"The young pirates these days are such fools," White Beard stated as he tossed the newspaper, which happened to land right in front of Erisa and Victoria.

Erisa then balled her hands into such tight fists that her hands started to turn white with rage as she read the words on the paper. She could barely control her body as it shook with anger.

Victoria, then noticing Erisa's reaction, knew it could only be one thing as she too started reading the paper.

**"Captain of the Snake Head Pirates, Sebastian Dormir strikes again! He and his crew take down yet another marine vessel! His last whereabouts were recorded, stating that he is heading south to Stone Hedge Island."**

Victoria looked over and swore at the guy who had brought the paper over. She knew that it had taken years for Erisa to get over the brutal death of her parents and years for Victoria to get the crazy idea out of her head of avenging the deaths of her parents. But now Victoria could tell by the way her best friend looked, that these memories were returning.

"Erisa, it's ok. Calm down," Victoria said as she put her hand gently on Erisa's shoulder, trying to calm her. Erisa only shrugged it off and turned to her, her eyes filled with pain and rage.

"How can I calm down when the bastard who murdered my parents is still out there! Too long have I stood by helpless while he just parades around on his shitty pirate ship!" Erisa yelled out loud at Victoria, not realizing that she was still in the presence of the White Beard Pirates. They were staring at her wide eyed, whispering to each other with shock at her sudden outburst.

But at this point Erisa could care less. She then stared down at her hands.

_I must have gotten this Devil Fruit power for a reason. I now know what I must_ do. Erisa thought to herself. She slowly walked past Victoria and walked up to where White Beard sat and bowed deeply.

"Please help me! Train me to be strong so that I may go to Stone Hedge Cove and avenge my parents' wrongful deaths! Please. I will give you all the money I own and even work on this ship as a cabin girl for the rest of my life if that's what it takes," Erisa said, her head bowed forward, letting her brown curls hang in her face as she bite her lip hard, trying to hold back tears.

"ERISA! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING! It's too dangerous, and you're really willing to give these pirates everything you have!?" Erisa heard Victoria yell at her. She could tell by the tone of Victoria's voice that she was obviously angry at what she'd said.

But Erisa said nothing to her as she still bowed forward in front of White Beard, almost starting to regret the words she had just spoken.

"Lift your head girl," White Beard's voice boomed. She instantly did so while also noticing the he did not call her 'brat' like he had been doing before.

"You are either the stupidest little girl I've met, or the bravest to want to do such a thing," White Beard said to her. She stared back at him, looking him straight into his eyes.

"I shall honor your request, though I have no need for your things. I will have my two best men," White Beard said, looking towards Ace and Marco who stood there with expressions that Erisa couldn't quite place, "Train you and your friend to the best of their abilities until we reach the island. But that is all I will do," he said as he looked down at Erisa.

_He actually agreed. And even gave me more than I asked for. _Erisa thought as she then looked up at him in shock.

"Thank you," Erisa said as she bowed again. She walked back awkwardly and stood next to a very angry Victoria.

"Ace, Marco show these girls to their rooms," White Beard said as Marco and Ace walked over to them silently, leading them to their rooms.


	6. Chapter 6: Tears Of The Past

**Chapter 6: Tears Of The Past**

"Well, here is where you two will be sleeping. My room is across from here and Ace's is next to yours," Marco said to Erisa and Victoria. He opened the bedroom door, revealing a pretty big bed inside along with a couple chairs, a couch, and a small bathroom.

"Thanks a lot Marco," Erisa said, smiling at him as she laughed to herself when she saw a flicker of surprise cross his face before he replied with a smile.

"It's no problem. Dinner is going to be ready in a couple minutes. We will send someone down to get you when it's ready," Marco said as he and Ace then walked away, leaving the girls with each other in the medium sized room.

_3, 2, 1, and..._ Erisa thought to herself right before Victoria exploded in an angry tantrum.

"NOW that we are out of view of hot pirates, are you going to tell me just what the hell that was!?" Victoria yelled as she looked toward Erisa with anger filling her eyes. "You just signed yourself up for a one way death ride!"

"What do you mean 'what the hell was that'? You already knew that I've been wanting to avenge the death of my parents, and now that I have this Devil Fruit I can!" Erisa said as she flopped down on the bed in the middle of the room. "Why do you think I can't do this!?"

"Humm, maybe it's because we have NO experience, you barely know how to use your Devil Fruit powers, you're trusting people we barely met today for training, and you know better than anyone that Sebastian is no joke!" Victoria yelled before she could stop and think about what she had said.

"Erisa I did-" Victoria said as she looked over at Erisa's hurt face, before Erisa then cut her off sharply.

"No, you did. I don't have time for this," Erisa said as she got off the bed and headed to the bedroom door, not even glancing back as she went out the door.

Erisa felt like crying. Either from the fact of everything that had been going on or because of Sebastian. Though Erisa rarely cried because she hated other people's pity. So most of the time she would keep her pain to herself. Or when she absolutely felt at her worst, she would cry alone in her bedroom.

_Well at least the sunset is beautiful tonight. _Erisa thought as she looked over the edge of the Moby Dick. The wind gently blowed her now deflated brown curls at her face.

"Better be careful not to fall in, 'cause I won't be able to save you this time." Erisa heard a voice say. She turned around to see Ace standing behind her. He then walked over and leaned on the railing of the Moby Dick next to her.

"I went to go tell you and attitude that dinner was ready, but she said that you had left the room in an angry rage," Ace said as he looked over at Erisa who now seemed like she was trying to hold back a laugh.

"Attitude?" Erisa said as she looked at Ace, no longer able to hold back her laughter at the nickname that he had given Victoria.

Which for some reason made Ace smile at himself, feeling satisfied that he had made her smile.

"Thanks for that and I guess I owe you a lot of thanks due to the fact that you did save my life," Erisa said as she gazed upon the blue waves of the ocean.

"Eh, it was no problem," Ace replied distantly. He didn't understand why, but for some reason he couldn't shake the feeling of curiosity that he had about Erisa. And he hated it. It wasn't the fact that he knew so little about her that bugged the hell out of him. It was his urge to want to know more about her that really bugged him.

"Ace, do you have any family?" Erisa asked calmly as she saw Ace's head lift in surprise before a huge smile spread across his face.

"Yeah, I have a kid brother who is a newbie pirate. He's always stating how he is going to be king of the pirates one day," Ace said to Erisa, smiling at the thought of Luffy and to see his huge smile followed by that straw hat he was always wearing. "But my father died before I was born, and my mother shortly after I was born." Ace said as Erisa noticed that his smile quickly vanished when he mentioned this, making Erisa feel bad that she even brought it up.

"I'm sorry for your loss," Erisa said as Ace looked up at her and smiled.

"Oh it's alright, that happened a long time ago. So what about you?" Ace said to Erisa. She could hear the hesitation in his voice.

"I'm an only child. And as you know by my outburst earlier, my parents were killed by the captain of the snake head pirates when I was 14," Erisa said, her voice filling with emotion.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Ace said as he noticed her face beginning to fill with pain and anger.

"No, it's fine. I need to get past this. And I never will unless I can learn to talk about it freely," Erisa said as she looked at Ace, then back at the sea as she took a deep breath.

"It happened on a night like this..."

(~o0o~)

"Erisa! Come inside! It's almost time for dinner!" Erisa heard her mother yell at her as she looked up from the sand castle she was making with a sigh.

"OK mom! Just let me finish this real quick!" Erisa yelled as she continued to build her sand castle.

Erisa and her parents lived near the docks of the island in a fairly good sized house with no neighbors. Erisa's mother, Ayame, was known as one of the kindest women on the entire island. She was tall, smart and had long brown hair that slightly curled just like Erisa's. Erisa's mother stayed at home and chose not to work so that she could stay home with Erisa and watch over her. Which was something that Erisa respected about her mom. Even though everyone knew she was highly capable of working a job, she chose for the sake of Erisa not to.

Erisa's father was no different in that area. He was a strong, tall man who was also well-respected on the island. He was a fisherman who kept his boat near the docks so that, during the day, he could just take his boat out with ease. This was the main reason that Erisa and her family had decided to move so close to the docks in the first place. Every day Erisa and her mother would cook dinner, then wait for him to come back home with a smile on his face and a handful of fish. And then they would all eat dinner together, laughing and talking about their day.

Though Erisa, for some reason, could not shake the feeling of nervousness that she felt tonight as she and her mother sat quietly at the dinner table, waiting.

"Hum, I don't remember your father saying he was going to be late," Erisa's mother said to Erisa, as she looked down at the dinner rolls. Erisa caught a flash of nervousness flicker across her face. This made Erisa stare nervously at the clock above the dining room table.

And that was when it happened.

It all happened so fast Erisa could barely recall all of the details. Her father suddenly came bursting through the door, his hand clutching his side as blood covered his fingers making Erisa's mother scream in panic as she abruptly got up from the table to help Erisa's father.

"What-t-t- happened?" Erisa heard her mother say in fright before her father answered, his voice almost a whisper.

"Ayame, quickly, they are coming...take...Erisa… and-" Before he could finish his sentence, the door flew open again and several pirates filled the room. Erisa screamed out in fear as one of the pirates stabbed his sword right into the heart of Erisa's father, making him cough blood before dying from the fatal blow.

"FATHER!" Erisa yelled as she tried to reach her father, only to have her mother grab her tightly, holding her away.

The pirates then laughed out loud as they dug their boots into Erisa's father's dead, lifeless body. "Nobody sails in Snake Head territory! Now your whole family will pay!"

"RUN ERISA!" Erisa remembered her mother call out, as the pirates then grabbed a hold of her mother. Erisa ran out of the back door as she heard her mother scream in horror and then multiple gun shots.

Tears ran down Erisa's face as she ran as fast as her legs could take her, her mind racing.

_Mom! Dad! I have to go get help! _Erisa thought to herself in horror before, all of a sudden, she yelled out as she was picked up off the ground by a fat horrid looking pirate.

"Captain! I got the brat, can I kill her!?" The man yelled over to another tall slender looking pirate with greasy blonde hair and a crooked grin. He carried a fat snake around his shoulders that hissed at Erisa as he came closer to her.

The slender looking pirate grabbed one of Erisa's curls and played with it in his hand, laughing a crazed laugh before he came uncomfortably close and looked Erisa dead in her eyes.

"I am Sebastian Dormir. Captain of the snake head pirates. Remember that, as the name of the man who took the lives of your parents and spared yours," Sebastian said with malice as he laughed another crazed laugh before telling the fat pirate that held her to let her go. Erisa then remembered watching them in horror as they got back onto their ship and sailed away, leaving her shaking and crying in the sand near the docks.

(~o0o~)

Erisa then went silent as she finished telling what had happened. She didn't even realize that tears were running down her face until she could taste the salty water on her lips, making her quickly reach up to wipe them away as she remembered that Ace was next to her.

"I'm sorry," Ace said to Erisa as he looked over and saw that her cheeks were wet with tears, before she quickly went to wipe them away again.

Ace couldn't help but feel angry after hearing Erisa's story. He knew that he didn't really know her well in all, but to hear someone be so cruel as to murder people over something so stupid as territory made him feel sick.

_It's a miracle that this girl doesn't hate pirates all together after that. _Ace thought to himself as he looked over at Erisa who stood there, quietly staring at the ocean.

The two of them stood there in silence for a long time, before Thatch walked over to them, breaking the silence.

"Hey, if you two lovebirds keep looking at the ocean all night there's going to be no food left!" Thatch said as he wrapped his arms around Ace and Erisa, bringing them close to him. He was covered with the strong smell of sake, letting Erisa and Ace know that he was drunk.

"We are not lovebirds!" Ace and Erisa said exactly at the same time, making them turn and stare at each other in embarrassment over the accusation that Thatch had made. This made Thatch laugh even more, before Ace hit him hard as they walked to go get dinner.


	7. Chapter 7: Shields And Bullets

**Chapter 7: Shields And Bullets**

"AH! You've got to be joking!" Erisa yelled at herself as she once again failed to deflect Ace's flames, making Thatch throw yet another bucket of water on her to douse the flames.

"Are you trying to turn me to ash?!" Erisa yelled at Ace who was now bent over laughing.

"It's not my fault that you cannot control your Devil Fruit abilities," Ace said as he prepared to throw yet another handful of fire towards her.

"Hey Thatch, can you go fetch some more water? I think Erisa's going to need it," Ace said as he grinned up at Thatch who was now laughing.

"Sure thing!" Thatch replied as he gave Erisa a sympathetic look, before going off to fetch more water.

_Uh! Stupid Ace! He thinks he's just so cool since he can control his freakin' Devil Fruit! If only there was a way I could get my shield to reflect his attack instead of blocking all the time. _Erisa thought to herself as she looked down at her hands in curiosity.

"Heads up!" Ace yelled as he chucked yet another ball of flames towards Erisa, breaking her out of her train of thought.

"Goei Goei block!" Erisa yelled as she blocked Ace's flames just before they could land a potentially fatal hit.

"You're INSANE! You could have just killed me right there!" Erisa yelled in anger towards Ace who wasn't even paying attention in the slightest, making Erisa fume in anger.

_At first I thought this was going to be rather boring, but seeing her react like this actually makes this quite entertaining. _Ace thought to himself as he causally looked up from underneath his hat to see Erisa throwing a fit and yelling at him, obviously angry at him.

"Erisa I'm not even trying ,trust me. If I wanted to deal a fatal blow I would have!" Ace said to Erisa, trying to suppress a laugh.

"OK fire boy! I'm ready this time! Hit me with your best shot!" Erisa taunted, trying not to let Ace see just how angry she was becoming.

"Really? You're ready? If I recall that's the tenth time you've said that to me," Ace said as he prepared this time a bigger fireball in his hand.

_I really hope this works. _Erisa thought as she looked back to see that Thatch still hadn't brought back any water.

_Cause if this doesn't...I'm totally toast._ She thought as she looked up at Ace, hiding her worried expression as she steadied her stance.

"Well, alright then...Here goes NOTHING!" Ace yelled as she reared back and chucked the now very large fireball towards Erisa, whose eyes went wide at the size of the fireball as it came closer and closer towards her.

It was only when Ace noticed Erisa just standing and staring at his fireball when he got nervous.

_What the hell is she doing!? If she doesn't move, it's going to hit her! _Ace thought as he continued to watch Erisa, feeling more and more nervous.

_Almost, just a little closer... _Erisa thought as the ball of flames continued to fly towards her, picking up speed as it went.

"Now! Goei Goei Reflect!" Erisa yelled as suddenly, instead of the thick light green shield that she was used to seeing when she blocked attacks, was now replaced by a dark purple shield that was set solidly in front of her as Ace's fireball hit the purple shield for a second before being thrown back towards Ace with blinding speed.

"YES! It worked!" Erisa said as she yelled with joy at her accomplishment, not realizing the strength of the attack she had just sent spiraling towards a very unsuspecting Ace.

(~o0o~)

_Son of a Bitch, I'm lost and I'm late._ Victoria thought to herself as she started to re-read the note card that Erisa had left for her when she had woken up.

_**Hey Victoria!**_

_**I know that you sleep late so I didn't want to wake you. I went to go train with Ace so I can improve my skills so I can defeat that snake bastard! Oh, and since you insist on coming with me, you have to train as well. At 2 pm meet Marco for training in the training room with the number 27 on it. It's on the south side of the ship. And please don't make him wait.**_

_**Love ya like a sister,**_

_**Erisa:)**_

"Love me like a sister, huh? You sure didn't seem to think so yesterday evening when I was trying to keep you safe," Victoria said out loud, feeling a sense of relief as she turned the corner to see a cabin door with the number '27' on it in bold black lettering.

_The sooner I get this over with, the better. _Victoria thought to herself with a sigh as she turned the door handle and entered the room.

As Victoria entered the room, the first thing her eyes came across was Marco, who, as much as she hated to admit it, to her delight wore his shirt yet again wide open, revealing his perfectly toned abs and bold dark purple tattoo.

_Man, I'm turning into a total pervert! _Victoria thought to herself as she looked over to see Marco in relief to see that he was sleeping soundly on the training room floor.

"You know you're an hour late, right?" Marco said suddenly, making Victoria jump in surprise and blush as she realized he probably caught her moment of her drooling over him.

"I-I got lost!" Victoria said as she watched Marco get off the floor and yawn as he looked at her and grinned.

_'I got lost?' How stupid! Why do I always get all stuttery around him!? I've had plenty of boyfriends! And I'm a pro at flirting, so why am I feeling so nervous around this guy? _Victoria thought to herself, getting frustrated with her body's out of character responses toward Marco, who she had only just said a couple phrases to.

"Oh well, ok then," Marco said to Victoria as he then walked up to a wall on the opposite side of the room which was covered with all sorts of weapons.

"Well, pick your weapon," Marco said as he moved aside to make room for Victoria as she walked towards the wall and looked over all of the weapons. She didn't even have to think twice about it as she grabbed the black pistol and held it firmly in her hand.

"That's your pick?" Marco said a little surprised at her choice.

_She certainly doesn't seem like the blazing gun type of girl. _Marco thought to himself as he looked over Victoria. He let his eyes wander as he looked at her long blonde hair and shapely body before quickly pulling his mind out of going any deeper into those sorts of thoughts. He then met the gaze of her blue eyes as he then began to explain to her what to do.

"Ok, so all you have to do is to shoot these targets as close to the red point in the center as you can get. And if you decided that a gun is your weapon of-" Before Marco could even finish his sentence, Victoria shot a bullet almost directly into the center of the target, making Marco stare at her in disbelief.

"You talk too much," Victoria said as she couldn't help but smile at Marco's shocked expression.

"So it seems like you already have a weapon of choice," Marco said as he replaced the shot up target with a new one.

"Yeah, it's just a hobby I had back at the island," Victoria said, not trying hard to hide the smugness in her voice.

"Eh, it was an OK shot," Marco said as he then picked up another pistol and shot a whole dead through the middle of the target as he looked at her.

_He hit a bull's eye and it looked like he wasn't even trying! _Victoria thought to herself as she watched Marco set the pistol back on the weapon wall.

Though, before she could even comment all of a sudden, with a loud crash, Ace came bursting through the wall. Shocking both Marco and Victoria, Ace quickly brushed off all of the wood. And besides the long line of swear words that followed when he sat up, he acted as if he wasn't even phased by being flung into a wall.

"Damn her! Is she trying to kill me!" Ace stated out loud as he grabbed his hat in an angry fit and stormed out of the new exit that he had made, leaving Marco and Victoria staring at each other dumbfounded.


	8. Chapter 8: Prank Gone Wrong

**Chapter 8: Prank Gone Wrong**

"Uh my body's soo sore!" Erisa grumbled as she thought of her rough training session with Ace yesterday morning. She felt reliefed that she had training only on certain days instead of everyday. Though she still did feel quite satisfied with herself that she had mastered her new Devil Fruit move that she knew would be quite handy.

"Well, it must have been pretty intense for you to send that flaming cowboy through the room that I was training in! I couldn't even finish training because now they have to repair the training room!" Victoria said, Erisa noticing that her voice almost sounded as if she was disappointed.

Erisa then flipped over in the bed to face Victoria who was lounging in one of the bedroom chairs, looking up at the ceiling of their room.

"Sooo, just how was your training with Marco?" Erisa said with a grin as she looked over at a now defensive looking Victoria.

"Well, right before you know who came flying through the room, I was about to show Marco just how good of a shot I am with a pistol! And knock that stupid sleepy grin right off his face!" Victoria yelled too loudly, making Erisa quickly motion for her to keep it down.

"Victoria, don't talk so loud. Their rooms are not that far away from ours!" Erisa hissed in a whisper, even though it was nine in the morning.

"I don't care if he hears," Victoria said in a whisper, contradicting her words, making Erisa look at her with a skeptical look.

"What is all this!? Usually I'm the one doing this to you!" Victoria said as Erisa then laughed out loud, breaking their chain of whispering.

"OK, ok, I'll stop harassing you. Though, since we have no training today, what in the world is there to do?" Erisa huffed as she got out of the bed and headed to the small bathroom to take a shower. Even though she usually took night showers, she thought that she might as well since there was nothing else to do.

"True, there really isn't much to do on a pirate ship," Victoria said as she got up from the chair she was sitting in and started pacing the room until Erisa got out of the shower.

And after a couple of minutes, going by pure boredness, that was when the idea hit her.

"Hey Erisa! Remember that game we used to play back on the island?" Erisa heard Victoria yell at her through the bathroom door as she wringed out her wet hair and put on her clothes quickly as she walked out of the foggy bathroom.

"Which game?" Erisa said as she looked at Victoria's face with a nervous look.

_I know that face too well. This is not going to be good. But once she sets her mind on something, it's almost impossible to make her change her mind! _Erisa thought to herself with a sigh.

"We should totally pull a prank on someone!" Victoria said in excitement as Erisa stared at her best friend with a strange look.

"A prank?" Erisa said, looking at Victoria with an 'I know this won't go well' look.

"Yeah! Let's go!" Victoria said as she quickly grabbed a hold of Erisa's hand and yanked her out of the bedroom.

(~o0o~)

"Man, I love taking showers in the morning!" Ace said gleefully to Marco, as the lukewarm shower water streamed down his raven black hair down onto his face.

"Yeah, they are pretty nice" Marco replied, starting to scrub his body before looking over at Ace's upper left shoulder to see a dark blue and black bruise.

"That looks like it hurts. That girl gave you some pounding," Marco laughed as Ace gave him a glare of anger.

"I told you she caught me off guard!" Ace said, looking over at the bruise on his shoulder, shaking his head. "I'm telling ya Marco, all that time when we were training she could only block my attacks and even at that, Thatch still had to dump water on her since apparently her shield can only guard one part of her body at a time."

"So you're saying it was like a surprise attack?" Marco said to Ace, only making Ace more frustrated as he saw the smugness on Marco's face begin to spread.

"Yes! I'll admit it; she took me off guard," Ace said as he started putting soap on his body, trying to rub the soreness out of his body.

_I guess that toss through the training room affected me more than I thought. _Ace said as he started finding more and more bruises on his body.

When all of a sudden, Ace and Marco jumped in surprise as they heard a crash in one of the distant stalls.

Marco and Ace turned to look at each other with strange looks on their faces as Ace then called out.

"You know we are all dudes here, there's no need to hide," Ace said, trying to see through the thick bathroom fog with no success.

(~o0o~)

"Victoria, are you insane!? I thought you said nobody was in here!" Erisa hissed in horror as she started kicking herself for letting Victoria talk her into such an insane idea.

_Out of all of the places to prank people it had to be the shower rooms!? On a ship where we are the only girls! I'm such an idiot to go along with this! _Erisa thought to herself as she glared full force towards a very apologetic looking Victoria.

"I'm sorry! How was I supposed to know Ace was in here?!" Victoria whispered to Erisa apologetically.

"I'm going to KILL YOU!" Erisa hissed, struggling to keep her voice down so that Ace would not know she was there. 'Cause she certainly didn't want Ace to think she was a peeper or some crazed pervert.

_Great! Stuck in the men's shower room in a cramp stall and out of ALL the people it could have been, Ace had to be the one in here! I don't see how this can get any worse! _Erisa thought as she held her face in her hands.

All of a sudden, Erisa and Victoria froze as they suddenly heard another familiar voice.

Erisa then looked at Victoria in horror as Victoria felt her legs go numb.

"Marco too?!" Erisa and Victrioia hissed at the same time as they then both sank to the bathroom floor in defeat.


	9. Chapter 9: A New Shade Of Red

**Chapter 9: A New Shade Of Red**

"Marco too!?" Erisa and Victoria whispered, hissing at each other at the same time.

"Now do you realize the magnitude of this problem?!" Erisa whispered to Victoria who now looked like she was having mini panic attacks at the thought of a naked Marco.

"Yes, yes OK! I realize that this was a horrible idea!" Victoria said, her face tomato red which Erisa couldn't decide if it was due to all of the steam of the bathroom or because Victoria really did at least care about what Marco thought of her.

"So you are the big master planer in all; just how are we going to get out of here without getting caught?" Victoria said as she looked around the tiny stall that they were in, then back at Erisa with a worried look.

"Uh," Erisa said as she looked around the tiny stall until her eyes came to rest on a tiny bar of soap, as a sly idea appeared into her mind.

"Ok I got it! This is what we are going to do! Noticed how all of these stalls have no bottoms and how we can see Ace's and Marco's feet if we look?" Erisa said, gripping the bar of soap as she pointed in the direction of Ace's and Marco's feet which were down a couple stalls.

"Uh-huh," Victoria replied, acting like she knew what Erisa was getting at when really she couldn't be more lost.

"I'm going to slide this bar of soap under here to their stalls, or well rather toss it. Then when they are all distracted and are going to reach to pick up the bar of soap, we are going to make a run for it!" Erisa said to Victoria feeling, quite satisfied with herself that she was able to come up with such a good plan on the spot.

"Whatever, just do it already before they get out!" Victoria said as she looked to Erisa who nodded her head as she held up both of her hands and motioned that they make a run for it when she hit one.

"10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!"

Erisa then threw the soap across the bottom of the stalls as it then happened to slide right under Marco's foot, making him swear as he hit the bathroom floor with a loud crash.

"Hey! What the hell!?" Erisa and Victoria heard Ace yell as they then realized that he'd gotten out of his stall and started walking towards the stall that they were in.

"RUN LIKE HELL!" Victoria yelled to Erisa as she kicked the stall door open, hitting Ace dead in the face, making him slip and fall to the bathroom floor as he spewed out a list of angry swears. Victoria then, not even caring about the fact that she had hit Ace in the face or that she had forgotten all about Erisa quickly sprinted across the slippery bathroom floor, bolting out of the bathroom.

"Hey! Wai-" Before Erisa could even finish her sentence she slipped on the slippery bathroom floor, landing onto a very naked Ace. He was now looking up at her in total shock, his face turning as red as one of the fireballs he had chucked at Erisa yesterday when they were training.

"U-u-u-h-h I'm so sorry! I was just-I was just-" Erisa couldn't stop stuttering as she felt all the blood in her body rush to her face as she looked down at her hands which were placed on his chest due to the way she fell.

Just as Erisa thought it couldn't possibly get any worse, Marco then came out of his bathroom stall.

"Hey Ace, you ok? I thought I heard you fall," Marco said before his face lit up in shock as he saw Erisa straddling Ace on the bathroom floor, both of them a dark shade of red.

"Holy dic-I mean shit!" Erisa yelled, her eyes popping out of her head as she turned away from the super embarrassed looking Marco who quickly jumped back into his stall in horror.

"Ace! What the hell is going on?!" Marco yelled from the bathroom stall.

Erisa's mind seemed to go blank from everything that was happening. All she could do was stutter and look down at Ace who was so shocked that he still said nothing as Erisa's face turned a red that rivaled his own flames.

Seeing a very naked Marco and sitting on a naked Ace was just too much for Erisa as she then regained her voice and yelled out in horror. She regained the feeling in her legs, which had gone numb from shock. She then quickly got off the tan, wet, and totally naked Ace as she swung the bathroom door open and bolted out of the bathroom, running all the way back to her quarters.

Erisa finally reached her room as she quickly opened the door and slammed it shut. Sinking to the floor, her hands shaking as she then glared up at Victoria who looked almost too happy.

"That was totally awesome! For sure the most daring thing I've done in a while! And the best part was that we didn't even get caught!" Victoria said as she flung herself onto their bed, kicking her feet with joy before stopping to look back up at Erisa

"Hey, you ok? You look like you just witnessed a murder," Victoria said, looking at Erisa who could barely speak.

"YOU left me in that bathroom! AND to make things worse ACE AND MARCO SAW ME!" Erisa yelled, getting off the bedroom floor as she threw up her hands in anger.

"How do you know?" Vcitoria said, looking at Erisa, starting to look nervous.

"Because when YOU ran out of there like a bat out of hell leaving me behind, I slipped on that freakin' floor and landed right on top of Ace! THEN of course Marco had to come out of his stall as well! And I saw his-" Erisa exclaimed, blushing as she recalled the recent memory to Victoria whose mouth dropped open.

"You don't mean...You mean he…You mean you saw.." Victoria said, looking at Erisa with a shocked look.

"Yes, I did! 'Cause when I fell, I fell on top of Ace, who I was literally sitting on like a freakin' chair! When Marco just had to step out of his stall!" Erisa shouted, feeling beyond humiliated as she felt herself start to have a series of panic attacks.

Victoria's mouth flew open as she comprehended what Erisa was telling her.

"I-I don't even know what to say!" Victoria said as she started laughing hysterically as she thought of the expression on Marco's face.

"SHUT UP! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" Erisa yelled as she started chucking pillows at Victoria in an angry rage, trying hard to fight the urge to throw the lamp or something that would actually hurt her.

"I can never face them again! Thanks to your stupid idea!" Erisa pouted as she flopped next to the still laughing Victoria onto the large bed.

"It's already 1 o'clock! I've wasted half of this day doing a bunch of failed pranks and getting stuck in a men's bathroom!"

Victoria then stopped laughing as she wrapped her arms around a still shaking Erisa.

"It's going to be fine! After all, tonight at dinner everyone usually gets so drunk that half of them forgets what they did in the morning anyway!" Victoria said, trying her best to cheer up the now depressed, still embarrassed Erisa.

"Victoria, how would you know? We've never actually had dinner with the whole crew. Usually we just wait for Thatch or somebody to bring our food to the room," Erisa said, looking at Victoria, starting to get the feeling that Victoria was coming up with yet another bad idea.

"That's why we are going tonight!" Victoria said, throwing up her arms in joy.

"No! We are not! Not after what just happened! I'm staying in here for the rest of the day!" Erisa said, crossing her arms as Victoria started to argue but then decided that it was true. Erisa had been through a lot so Victoria then decided to compromise.

"Fine, I'll stay in here with you for the rest of the day if you promise that tomorrow night you'll go to the dinner with me," Victoria said as she looked over at Erisa with a smile.

_Damn, I don't know what's worse; facing Ace and Marco today or tomorrow! _Erisa thought to herself before cringing at the thought of her trying to explain what happened and what exactly she was doing in the men's bathroom.

"Uhh, Deal." Erisa said as she dug her face deep into the pillows on the bed as Victoria jumped for joy.


	10. Chapter 10: Dining With The Crew

**Chapter 10: Dining With The Crew**

Victoria woke up with the sun shining brightly on her face through the window of her and Erisa's temporary room.

_Uh, I hate it when I have weird dreams. _Victoria thought to herself as she sat up in the bed and stretched as she looked over at a still sleeping Erisa.

_I still do feel bad about totally ditching her in the men's bathroom yesterday. And she still seemed pretty worked up about it even when we went to sleep last night. _Victoria thought as she huffed to herself quietly so she didn't wake up Erisa as she started switching out of her pajamas.

_Even though I'm going to hate every minute of it, it would make me a crappy friend if I don't try to at least somehow fix this. _Victoria thought to herself as she silently left the bedroom and went to go look for Ace and Marco.

It took Victoria quite a while but she finally spotted Ace and Marco sitting and talking on to barrels of sake.

"Uh-Hey Marco, Ace, can I talk to you real quick?" Victoria said, starting to feel nervous as she saw the two of them agree then motioned for her to sit next to them.

"So, what is it you wanted to talk about?" Ace said, looking at her curiously as Marco still had his normal tired look on his face.

"Well you see, uh yesterday Erisa told me what happened," Victoria said as she watched both of the boys turn a light shade of red, obviously embarrassed about what had happened.

"Did she happen to tell you why she was hiding out in the men's washroom?" Marco said, looking at Victoria with an expression that she couldn't quite place.

"Yeah, the whole thing was my fault..." Victoria said, nervously running her hand through her blonde hair as she looked down at the ground.

"Explain," Ace said as Marco nodded his head as they listened to Victoria tell them all about how they were bored, and how she had forced Erisa to go in the men's bathroom in the first place. And she even admitted that she was the one who had kicked the door in Ace's face.

When she finished the whole story, she looked nervously up at Marco and Ace who took her by surprise as they both looked at each other and then busted up laughing.

"Some friend you are!" Ace said as he looked over at Marco who was also laughing.

_Thank God, they find this whole thing funny! _Victoria thought to herself, totally relieved that they weren't angry as she had pictured...

**What Victoria pictured...**

_**"Ace, Marco, what happened yesterday was all my fault." **_

_**"Grab her!" Marco yelled to Ace as they sat up angrily from the barrels they were sitting on.**_

_**"Wait! I'm sorry! We were just bored!" Victoria yelled as Ace and Marco grabbed her by her wrists and magically picked her up like she was a light as a balloon. They then threw her overboard, leaving her yelling as the boat went on without her.**_

"So, do you think it would be OK that when you see Erisa to act like that little incident never happened?" Victoria said, smiling at them as Ace then suddenly cleared his throat.

"Yeah sure, it doesn't really matter. I mean it was an accident in all," Ace said as he causally put his hands behind his head as he bite into a red apple.

"Yeah all's forgiven, since it was a accident" Marco said as he seemed to stare at Victoria as he said the last part of the sentence. Almost as if he didn't believe that Victoria wasn't somehow more involved than what she had said, making Victoria return his stare with equal amount of force.

(~o0o~)

"Are you sure that they are not pissed off or anything?" Erisa said as she paced back forth in the bedroom. She was waiting for Victoria to get ready so that they could actually make it to the dinner she so badly wanted to go to.

"Like I've said for the millionth time; when I talked to them they were just busting up laughing at the whole thing when I was explaining it!" Victoria said as she then came out of the bathroom and smiled at Erisa.

_This is going to be so awkward! _Erisa thought to herself, heading out the bedroom door with Victoria as they headed to the mess hall.

When they reached the mess hall they were surprised at what they saw. There were pirates singing and dancing, swinging huge mugs of sake through the air. Some were gambling, some were arm wrestling, and some were even dancing on top of the wooden tables, yelling pirate songs from the top of their lungs.

Victoria was surprised when she looked over at Erisa, expecting to see her to look very freaked out, but instead found that she was smiling and laughing at the sight of it all.

_Thanks to all this commotion, I doubt I'll even run into Ace or Marco! _Erisa thought to herself joyfully as she looked at all the pirates before turning to look at the shocked looking Victoria.

"Well I'm pretty hungry! Let's go get some food!" Erisa said as she weaved her way through the crowds of pirates over to the food line.

"Wow the food actually looks good!" Erisa said out loud as a deep voice sounded behind her, making her jump.

"Yeah, the Old Man makes sure we are well feed," a deep voice said as Erisa turned around to see a rather massive man with thick tightly curled hair. He wore a dark red bandana which was wrapped tightly around his head. Erisa also noticed that he was missing quite a few teeth and the ones that were there, were broken.

The man seemed to notice the surprised look on Erisa's face as he spoke up again.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to catch you off guard there! The name's Marshall D. Teach. And you must be the girl Ace brought back from that burning ship," the massive man said as he formed a crooked smile.

"Yes, my name is Erisa! It's nice to meet you," Erisa said as she smiled at the man. She reached out and shook his hand, realizing that besides Ace, Marco, Thatch, and White Beard himself she hadn't really met any of the White Beard pirates.

"Well, then now that introductions are over, I bet you and your friend have nowhere to sit! Join me!" Teach said as he gave Erisa a strong pat on the back. Erisa, knowing that there was no way she could refuse without seeming rude, flashed a nervous smile as she motioned Victoria to follow her and the massive man.

"Who is that dude!?" Victoria asked Erisa, not worrying about him hearing her due to all of the loud voices in the room.

"His name is Marshall D. Teach and he…uh…well invited us to sit with him and his friends," Erisa said as she smiled nervously towards Victoria.

"And you said yes!?" Victoria questioned, looking at her as if she had gone insane.

"How was I supposed to tell him no!?" Erisa said as she pointed at the man with her free hand that wasn't holding her tray of food.

Erisa could not hear Victoria's reply as Victoria's voice was drowned out by the loud whistles that came from the men who were sitting at Teach's table.

"Yeah Teach! Way to bring over the ladies!" Erisa heard a drunk man call out as he winked at Erisa, making her want to gag.

"Now, now, guys that's no way to treat a lady," Erisa heard a familiar voice say as she was flooded with relief as she saw Ace sitting between two massive men at Teach's table with a mug of sake in his hand. Only to have her relief fade as she realized that Ace was beyond drunk as he bleached a loud burp which made the group of men bust up laughing.

Erisa couldn't help but laugh at the sight of a drunk Ace, due to the fact that she was so used to seeing him in control and nonchalant. But this Ace was different as he then gave Erisa and Victoria a goofy smile.

"It's about time that you two show up!" Ace said "More drinks!" He yelled, making the guys at the table go into an uproar.

At First, Erisa and Victoria really didn't know what to do or say at that. They just watched the pirates… well, being pirates. And then, sooner or later Erisa and Victoria found themselves laughing at their stories and truly having a good time.

It seemed that the more days Erisa found herself on the Moby Dick, the more she felt like she was at home. And the more she started to dread the day that she would have to leave.


	11. Chapter 11: The Challenge

**Chapter 11: The Challenge**

"Well, well, look who's getting better!" Ace panted as he looked up at Erisa who was also panting due to all of the dodging and having to constantly be using her Devil Fruit.

_Hh, even though it's only her second day of training she's actually catching on quite fast. Looks like I underestimated her. _Ace thought as he looked over at Erisa who was, even though they were supposed to be taking a break, still practicing.

It had been a couple days since the time that he and Marco had brought Erisa and Victoria onto the ship, and yet in that short amount of time Ace was already finding himself smiling whenever he saw Erisa, for reasons he couldn't really place. But as for Victoria he was OK with the fact that he didn't see her much.

"What? Do I have something on my face?" Erisa said, making Ace realize that he had been staring at her. He noticed that her face had turned a light shade of red as she started to worry if something was wrong with her.

"No, it's nothing. I was just sorta spacing out," Ace said awkwardly to Erisa, making her raise her eyebrow.

_Aw man! I do have something on my face! He just doesn't want to tell me. _Erisa said as she looked at him with a sigh.

"I'll be back!" Erisa yelled at Ace, huffing to herself as she walked to the bathroom to go see what he was staring at.

_What's going on with me today? Why do I keep staring at her? It must be all the heat from the sun. _Ace concluded to himself as he took off his hat and wiped the sweat from his face.

"Hh, well besides the fact of me being all sweaty and crud, I don't see anything," Erisa said out loud as she looked at her tan reflection and her brown curls tied roughly back in a messy ponytail in the small bathroom mirror.

_Well, maybe he was just looking at you. _A small voice said in the back of Erisa's mind, making her heart beat faster at the thought of this. Erisa quickly shook her head at the thought of this.

_Ha! Yeah, like I would even have a chance at that!_ Erisa thought as she stared harder at her reflection in the mirror.

_After all, I'm no Victoria. _Erisa thought as she stood back so that she could see her whole body in the mirror.

_And besides, Ace is just a friend! I mean, he is attractive..._Erisa thought as her mind started playing back the incident in the men's washroom, before Erisa quickly stopped her mind from going any further.

_Just friends. _Erisa concluded as she left the bathroom and headed back to where her and Ace were training.

"You sure took your time," Ace said, grinning as he saw Erisa's face scrunch up in irritation.

"Let's just get back to practice!" Erisa said as she took her stance against Ace.

"You know, I think it's time we move on from the basics. No more fireballs," Ace said to Erisa who couldn't help but feel disappointed when hearing this.

"Of course we move on! Now that I'm better than you." Erisa thought she said under her breathe, but knew Ace heard when he suddenly gave her a grin.

"Better than me? And when was this established?" Ace said as he lit his hands with fire.

"Since last time when I blew you through the training cabin!" Erisa said laughing as she recalled that memory, making Ace's eyes twitch with irritation.

"That was a lucky shot. That won't ever happen again," Ace said to Erisa, getting more and more agitated as he saw Erisa _still _laughing at what had happened.

"Prove it," Erisa said grinning over at Ace, who's eyes seemed to now light up at the sound of a challenge.

"Ok, you're on. And if I win you have to be my servant girl for a day," Ace said to Erisa, expecting her to back down for the fear that she might lose.

"You know same goes to you if you lose?" Erisa stated as she placed her hands on her hips, trying not to let the smugness show in her face.

_Looks like now I get to test Victoria's idea today. _Erisa thought to herself as she remembered the conversation they had before they went to bed one night...

_**"Hey, Erisa? You awake?" Victoria said as she shook a sleeping Erisa who woke up startled.**_

_**"Yeah, now I am. What's wrong?" Erisa said, turning over in the bed to face Victoria.**_

_**"I just thought of an idea to try on your Devil Fruit abilities next time you spare with our flaming cowboy," Victoria said excitedly.**_

_**"Really? I've been thinking of some things too, but nothing good," Erisa said as she thought of all of her failed ideas with a long sigh.**_

_**"Instead of reflecting his moves back at him, why don't you send a shield towards him as an offensive move?" Victoria said, looking at Erisa who was now a little lost.**_

_**"What do you mean?" Erisa said to Victoria, feeling confused as she tried to picture the whole thing in her head with no luck.**_

_**"Send one of your shields flying towards him. And since your shields make objects bounce off in order to protect you it will be the same. Though, instead of someone's attack bouncing off, you will actually be sending him flying back!" Victoria said to Erisa, feeling quite proud as she saw Erisa grin at her.**_

_**"You're a genius! Why didn't I think of that!?" Erisa said as she reached over to hug her friend.**_

"You're pretty cocky for someone who is still getting to know their Devil Fruit!" Ace said as he suddenly sent flames flying towards Erisa.

"Goei Goei Block!" Erisa yelled, grinning. A large shield appeared in front of her that protected her as not even the heat from Ace's flames touched her.

"Goei Goei Push!" Erisa yelled, deciding that it was time that she made the returning attack instead of just deflecting and sending back Ace's own attacks.

Ace moved just in time as a red shield was sent flying towards him at a quick speed, making him feel thankful of his fast reflexes.

_I might have missed this time. But how about now! _Erisa thought. She this time whispered "_Goei Goei shield_" and pointed her hands in the air above Ace, sending a large shield cutting through the air as it landed directly on top of him.

"ACE!" Erisa yelled out, running over to him.

_Damn it, I went overboard again! _Erisa thought to herself as she ran over to Ace.

Suddenly flames erupted from him, sailing up towards the sky. They sent Erisa flying backwards on the deck floor.

Before she could even get up, Ace was standing over her, his fists covered in flames as he pointed his flames towards Erisa with a grin.

"Game. I win...servant girl," Ace said triumphantly as he looked into Erisa's glaring eyes. He then put out his flames and pulled her from the deck floor.


	12. Chapter 12: The Pain Inside

**Chapter 12: The Pain Inside**

"Well, look who actually showed up on time this time!" Marco said, grinning at a still tired looking Victoria.

"I don't see why you always make these things so early," Victoria said tiredly as she reached up to cover her mouth as she yawned.

"Do you really think that, when you're in battle, the enemy is going to wait for you to wake up?" Marco said to a now very annoyed Victoria.

"OK, OK I see your point. Can we just start already?" Victoria said, giving Marco a bored look as she headed for the wall with all the weapons.

"You're so impatient that you didn't even let me tell you what we were doing today," Marco said, causing Victoria to stop in her tracks.

"What do you mean? Aren't we just going to be practicing shooting?" Victoria said as she turned around to face Marco.

_He talks about me being tired when every time I see him, he always has that same sleepy expression! And he always tries to act like he's better than me! _Victoria thought to herself as she looked Marco over who was looking in the opposite direction.

_Since when did you care so much about his opinions? _Victoria heard a part of her say to herself, causing Victoria to now realize that the voice she was hearing was right. Ever since he had saved her from the Hell Hounds' burning ship she had been thinking of him.

_Just what is he to me? _Victoria thought as she quickly looked towards the ground when Marco returned his gaze to her.

"Today's hand to hand combat training," Marco said as he tossed a pair of what looked to be boxing gloves at Victoria. He then put on gloves himself.

"Hand to hand combat? Why would I need to learn that?" Victoria questioned as she slipped her hands into the gloves which fit oddly well on her hands.

"Because; what are you going to do if someone takes your gun away from you? Or if you drop it?" Marco said as he motioned Victoria to come closer to him.

"True," Victoria said as she thought back on just how easy it was for the Hell Hound pirates to capture her and Erisa.

"Ready?" Marco said as he then started laughing to himself as he looked over Victoria.

Victoria's hair was, just like Erisa's, pulled back into a messy ponytail and Marco noticed how Victoria's green eyes always gleamed with determination. Now that he was thinking about it, she was quite beautiful.

_She's always so quick to anger. It's actually kinda cute the way she always turns a light shade of red when she gets embarrassed. _Marco thought to himself as he didn't even realize that he was smiling at the girl until he noticed her cheeks start to flush.

"Yeah, I'm ready," Victoria said, wanting to sound confident. But instead it came out as a soft whisper, which shocked her more than it shocked Marco.

_Uhh! He just smiles at me then I get all flushy and nervous and UHH! This is so frustrating! Why do I always let him have this effect on me?_ Victoria thought to herself as she looked down at her gloves, not paying attention that they had started the match already. Suddenly she felt the glove lightly touch her on the head.

"Hey, match started! And you're already spacing off?" Marco teased as he lightly tapped Victoria's head again, laughing as he saw her glare up at him.

"Will you quit that!? It's annoying!" Victoria yelled at Marco, her face going red from the mixture of anger and embarrassment.

"What? This is a fight," Marco said, easily dodging Victoria's far out swing at him and tapping her on the side of the head again.

"You're so...stupid...and...cocky...it...really...makes...me...mad!" Victoria said in between swings as Marco dodged each of them as he returned a light tap to her head every time.

"Name calling? At your sensei? Really?" Marco said as he then caught Victoria's wrist, stopping her next swing.

"Will you let go of my wrist?" Victoria huffed as she looked up into Marco's deep blue eyes which gazed down at her.

"Sure. After you apologize," Marco said causally as he saw Victoria's green eyes light up in anger.

"No way," Victoria said, looking at Marco in the eyes.

"You know, I want to know; why are you so angry all the time?" Marco said, still holding Victoria's wrist as his voice suddenly turned serious.

Victoria's eyes suddenly widened at this, his statement obviously catching her off guard.

_Angry all the time? _Victoria thought to herself as she focused in on Marco's words before looking him in the eyes.

Marco then let go of her wrist as he looked back into Victoria's deep green eyes.

"I'm sorry. It's none of my business," Marco said, feeling bad as he looked into Victoria's sad eyes.

"No, it's alright. I am angry all the time, which is mostly due to all of the family problems that have happened to me," Victoria said, being surprisingly honest. She slipped off the boxing gloves and sat down on the training room floor. Seeing Victoria do this, Marco slipped off his gloves as well and took a seat on the training room floor next to her.

"What do you mean family problems?" Marco said as he looked over at Victoria.

"I have 3 older sisters but I used to have 4," Victoria said, not looking up at Marco as her voice started to fill with sadness.

"Her name was Cassandra and she was the best older sister anyone could have asked for. Since I had so many siblings, my parents never seemed to be interested in me or the things I did. I was always covered in the shadows of my older sisters it seemed. Cassandra was the one who always took the time out for me. I remember that we would talk for hours about just anything, really. She was always there to pick me up when I was at my lowest, always telling me to be strong and not let others bully me around or make me feel like I was worthless. I thought that she would always be with me, but I was wrong. When I was eighteen, she was diagnosed with an incurable disease. Though on the night she finally passed, I still remember what she said to me...

(~o0o~)

"Vicky, come here. I can barely see you," Cassandra murmured as she motioned for Victoria to come near her bedside.

"I'm here Cassie, what is it?" Victoria said as she grasped her sister's hand tightly in hers. She was thankful for it being night so that Cassandra couldn't see the tears that ran down her face.

"I don't know how long I have left, but I just wanted to tell you something," Cassandra said as she turned her head towards Victoria.

"I know that Mom and Dad don't always give you the love they give us. But you are special and your heart is filled with a goodness that makes you shine through all the rest," Cassandra said as she placed her hand on Victoria's wet cheeks.

"Pl-Please don't leave me Cassie," Victoria said to Cassandra. Her voice was shaking as she tried to hold back the many tears that were running down her face.

"D-on't cry Vicky, remember to be strong…a-and d-don't let anyone stop you from achieving your dreams," Cassandra said, smiling up at Victoria. Victoria suddenly felt her sister's hand going limp, sliding slowly down her face.

"C-cassie...Cassie," Victoria said as her body started to shake with sadness and anger as she gently shook Cassandra's cold, lifeless body.

"CASSIE! WHY DID YOU HAVE TO LEAVE ME ALL ALONE!" Victoria yelled out at her dead sister, tears running down her face like waterfalls.

(~o0o~)

"My parents, after a while, had to drag me away from Cassandra's bedside. And then, after a couple months, they all went on living how they normally did, l-l-leaving me- l-l-like a-always all a-alone," Victoria said as she felt tears streaming down her face and her body shaking, though she did not care.

Marco was silent as he watched steady streams of tears run down Victoria's face.

"I-I've got to g-go!" Victoria said, tears still running down her face. She quickly got up from the training room floor and sprinted for the door, though before she could reach the door knob, she suddenly felt Marco's strong arms wrap around her.

"I-I-don't know why this bothers me so much. I told myself that, after Cassie's death, I'd be strong! B-but I'm still weak as ever," Victoria said as she could not hold back the anger and sadness she felt any longer. She started shaking and sobbing into Marco's chest who said nothing, holding the sobbing girl tightly in his arms.

"You know you are not alone," Marco said to Victoria, his voice low.

"There are people who care for you. Like Erisa. I've seen the way she acts around you. She looks at you like a younger sister would at her older sister," Marco said. "Your older sister may be gone, but it doesn't mean that you are alone," Marco said as he found Victoria's dark green eyes looking up at him. Though this time, Marco noticed that her eyes were no longer filled with anger or sadness.

They stood there, silently embracing for a long time, before Victoria slowly unwrapped her arms from around Marco's waist. She looked up into his deep blue eyes and blushed as she realized that she'd just spent a good couples hours venting and crying all over the guy.

"Uh-Uh- I guess I kinda ruined your jacket," Victoria said, feeling embarrassed as she let go of Marco and stood back to see most of his purple jacket soaked with her tears.

"Oh this? It's fine. I'll just have Ace wash it," Marco said as he smiled at Victoria who now started laughing a bit.

"Ace does your laundry?" Victoria questioned Marco, raising her eyebrow, thinking that he was only kidding.

"Yeah, we actually take turns doing it. It's his turn, though he's always trying to find ways to get out of doing it," Marco chuckled as he ran his hand through his blonde hair.

"Well,uh, I think I better go see how Erisa's doing," Victoria said awkwardly, still feeling quite embarrassed at her actions. She gave one last smile of thanks before leaving the training room.


	13. Chapter 13: Maid For A Day

**Chapter 13: Maid For A Day**

"You what?" Victoria said as she looked over at the bedroom floor at a pouting Erisa.

"Yesterday when I was training with Ace, I agreed to some stupid bet - and lost!" Erisa said, throwing up her arms dramatically in the air.

"Erisa, don't worry! Knowing him he won't even-" Before Victoria could even finish her sentence, all of a sudden their cabin door flew open, making them both jump with surprise.

"Ohh Maid, I believe I'm hungry for breakfast now!" Ace called from the doorway of their room, causing Erisa to immediately light up with irritation.

"GET IT YOURSELF!" Erisa yelled to Ace who was causally leaning against their door frame with an amused look on his face.

"Now, do I have to remind you that you were the one who lost the bet we had yesterday," Ace said, grinning at the now very irritated Erisa.

"Oh Erisa, while you're making Ace breakfast, can you make me some as well?" Victoria said, giving Erisa a cheesy smile and a thumbs up, making Erisa stare at her with an open mouth.

"Victoria! Whose side are you on!?" Erisa said, looking at her friend with a shocked expression.

"Whichever is going to make me breakfast!" Victoria said as she then headed for the door, walking past Ace with a smile. "I'll just leave you to your fighting."

"What's got attitude in such a good mood?" Ace said, looking over at Erisa who wore the same questioning expression.

"I'm not sure, but she's been that way ever since yesterday," Erisa said out loud, though more to herself.

_I wonder why. _Erisa thought to herself curiously before looking back at Ace.

"Ok, so what did you want for breakfast?" Erisa said as she smiled up at Ace who, even though he looked as he always did, there was something about him this morning that she couldn't quite place.

"Pancakes," Ace said, grinning at her as she walked past him to the kitchen with a sigh of defeat.

Once Erisa reached the large kitchen, it wasn't long before she started getting nervous. And it especially didn't make her feel comfortable with Ace watching her from the chair he sat in.

_Aw man, out of all things he had to ask me to cook! I'm a horrible cook! _Erisa thought to herself as she tried her best to start whisking the pancake mix in the large bowl with dread.

"You don't know how to cook do you?" Ace said from over her shoulder, making Erisa jump with surprise and, if not for Ace's quick reflexes, dropped the bowl of pancake mix on the floor.

"Don't sneak up on me like that!" Erisa said, turning around to find Ace standing _much_ closer than she had thought behind her, making her cheeks blush.

Ace then grinned down at the blushing Erisa who was about half an inch shorter than he was.

_Amazing that she can turn so red and I'm not even touching her. _Ace thought to himself as he, for some reason, found himself wanting to reach out and touch her red cheeks.

"Here, this is how you do it," Ace said as he reached from behind Erisa and gently wrapped his hand around hers which held the whisk and helped her start whipping the mix.

_Damn it, Erisa! Stop blushing! You're not holding hands! He's just showing you how to whisk pancakes! _Erisa thought to herself as she looked down at Ace's hand on hers. This made her cheeks grow hotter and hotter, making Erisa very thankful that Ace couldn't see her face.

"And done! See, it's not that hard," Ace said as he let go of Erisa's hand and grabbed the bowl and started pouring the mix into the hot skillet.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Erisa said as she ran her hand through her brown curls, feeling embarrassed that she couldn't have done something so simple by herself.

_Uh, I hate how I always get so damn blushy around him! He probably thinks I have some sort of heat disorder as to why I'm always red in the face! _Erisa thought as she put her hands to her cheeks.

"Are you not feeling well?" Ace said as he approached Erisa, making her instantly take a step back.

"No-I'm fine" Erisa said when suddenly, Ace placed his hand on her forehead, making Erisa's heart start pounding wildly. He was now so close to her that she could place her hand on his chest.

Ace stood there with his hand on Erisa's forehead while then using his other hand and placing it on his own head.

"Wow, you're burning up! It's almost like you have a fever, or are for some reason _really_ embarrassed, " Ace said, looking down at Erisa with a grin, making her turn defensive.

"You're just mocking me!" Erisa said as she quickly removed Ace's hand from her forehead and stood back from him. Only to have him come closer to her yet again.

"Could it be because I make you nervous?" Ace said boldly, making Erisa turn bright red. She then started to blush even more.

"That's not it at all!" Erisa said, making Ace raise an eyebrow as he kept coming closer to her until Erisa found herself backed into the fridge.

"Really?" Ace said in disbelief of what Erisa had just said as he got _so_ close to Erisa that her eyes widened.

_H-he's so close t-that I-I could... _Erisa thought before she suddenly saw smoke rising from the neglected pancake in the skillet.

"Oh no, the pancake!" Erisa said as she quickly slid by Ace, running to the skillet and quickly flipped over the blackened pancake with a sigh.

"Damn, it's burnt," Erisa said as she looked into the skillet with a sigh, spacing out before she remembered that Ace was still in the kitchen.

"Erisa, when you're done here you can do my laundry," Ace said suddenly as he adjusted his hat. Erisa could hear the difference in his tone of voice.

Ace then quickly walked out of the kitchen before Erisa could even reply.

_What was that all about? _Erisa thought to herself as she watched the burnt pancake sizzle in the skillet.


	14. Chapter 14: A New Perspective

**Chapter 14: A New Perspective**

_What's going on with me!? _Ace thought to himself as he starred up at the many stars that sprinkled the night sky from the hard floor of the Moby Dick.

_This morning with Erisa, that was just...so…I don't even know how to explain it. _Ace thought to himself as he recalled what had happened earlier that morning. The feelings that he had felt, how he had just wanted to run his hand against her soft blushing cheeks.

_Uh! This is so frustrating! Why am I feeling this way towards her? I haven't even known her for that long, and yet I can't seem to stop thinking about her. The way she blushes when I get close to her, or the way her faces scrunches up when she's angry. Why? Why am I feeling like this? _Ace thought to himself as he looked up at the stars in confusion.

In the words of food, Ace knew that a lot of girls in his past had found him very...delectable. And yes, it had been always flattering to him when he had found out, but Ace himself never found himself taking interest in any of them. Not that they were bad looking, but he just didn't find himself thinking of them in the way that he was now finding himself thinking of Erisa.

"Hey, you look kinda depressed. What's up?" Ace heard Marco say. Marco took a seat on the upper deck of the Moby Dick floor next to him.

"Uh-I'm just thinking. Really!" Ace said to Marco, not wanting to tell him that he had been thinking about Erisa.

"About what?" Marco said curiously to Ace, clearly not getting the hint that he did not want to talk about it.

Taking it from Ace's silence, Marco assumed that it had to be something woman related. And by woman that obviously meant either Erisa or Victoria due to the obvious fact they were the only women on the whole boat.

"Which is it?" Marco said, looking at Ace with a serious expression. That made Ace instantly realize that maybe he wasn't the only in his current situation.

"You first," Ace said with a grin as he adjusted his hat, feeling actually better that he wasn't the only one in his current situation.

"What are you talking about?" Marco said looking over at Ace, obviously caught off guard by him turning his own question against him.

"You and attitude, I've seen you two hanging out more lately...have you...I mean do you like...you two…" Ace said, feeling embarrassed for asking such a question even if him and Marco were close friends.

"What?! NO! It's not like that at all! And you really shouldn't give her such a nickname," Marco said to Ace in a defensive tone, feeling agitated with Ace thinking so vulgar.

"Oh ok, just wondering! No need to bite my head off..." Ace said, regretting that he had even brought up such a question in the first place.

"Though speaking about being curious, what about you and Erisa?" Marco said to Ace, noticing how Ace's shoulders tensed when he mentioned Erisa's name.

"I don't even know anymore!" Ace blurted out, not really caring what Marco would think of him, admitting that he had been thinking about Erisa.

"I just don't understand. I find myself saying things around her that I would normally not say, and I find myself thinking things that I shouldn't and just…UH!" Ace explained to Marco, throwing up his hands in frustration.

And while Ace went on explaining how he felt, Marco couldn't help but think of the way he acted around Victoria. Especially a couple days ago when she had opened up to him, and how he had just reached out without thinking and pulled her into himself. Marco had heard a lot of sad stories in his years of being part of White Beard's crew, and he as well had some dark/sad times in his life himself, but never before had he reacted like that.

_Victoria. _Marco thought as he looked up into the starry sky and found himself starting to think about her.

_I wonder. Why out of all people did she decide on me to open up to? _Marco thought to himself as he remembered her whole story down to the last detail and recalled how she had cried in his arms.

"Women are so confusing," Ace said, folding his hands behind his head and laying back down against the hard deck floor, continuing to gaze up at the stars.

"Actually, I don't think women are confusing. I just think these two are," Marco said as he and Ace laughed while they continued to watch the stars.


	15. Chapter 15: On The Move

**Chapter 15: On The Move**

"I feel a bit nervous," Erisa said as her and Victoria walked down the long hallway making their way to White Beard's personal quarters.

"I wish I could say I wasn't but I am, too," Victoria said as she looked down at her hands, feeling just as nervous as Erisa was.

_I can't help but wonder what he wants to talk to us about. _Erisa thought to herself as she recalled what had happened this morning.

(~o0o~)

"It sure feels good; just to have a girls training day verses being constantly nervous when training with Ace or Marco," Erisa said as she practiced different combinations with her Devil Fruit powers on a wooden training doll that was in the corner of the training room.

"Yeah, I totally know what you mean!" Victoria said as she grinned in satisfaction as she shot yet another bull's eye.

"Oh yeah! Last time didn't you totally just break down and cry all over him!?" Erisa said to Victoria as she used her Goei Goei shield and successfully blew off the doll's head.

_Yes! It finally works!...Although, I probably shouldn't try this one on Ace. _Erisa thought as she picked up the wooden doll's head and placed it back onto its wooden frame.

"Yeah, that was super embarrassing..." Victoria said as she blushed a light shade of red, recalling Marco wrapping his strong arms around her. Sshe turned around to see Erisa putting the wooden doll's head back on and grinned.

"Looks like you're finally starting to get good at using your Devil Fruit abilities," Victoria said, returning Erisa's grin as they both gave each other a high five.

The more they trained, the more confident Victoria and Erisa became in their abilities. And even more important, the stronger they became.

"You know Victoria, I'm actually happy that we ended up on this ship and all," Erisa said as she sat down on one of the wooden barrels and wiped the sweat off her forehead.

"Me too. It's actually been quite the adventure," Victoria said as she too wiped the sweat from her face before she turned to Erisa and they both started to laugh.

Their laughter only stopped when they heard a knock on the door and a familiar voice.

"Hey! Erisa! Victoria! Are you guys in there?" Erisa heard Thatch call from the other side of the door.

Erisa and Victoria let out the breaths they were holding at the same time, both thankful that it was just Thatch and not Ace or Marco. Last thing they wanted was to have them see them looking sweaty and red in the face from all the training they were doing.

"Yeah, we're in here Thatch!" Erisa called back to him and, as lazy as it sounded, was feeling too worn out to actually go and open the door for him.

"Are you guys like decent? 'Cause I'm coming in..." Thatch said as he slowly cracked the training room door open to see Victoria and Erisa sitting on the barrels in the training room floor tiredly.

"Why wouldn't we be decent?" Victoria said, eyeing Thatch curiously.

"Well, you know how guys take off their shirts when they workout. I just didn't-" Thatch couldn't even finish his sentence as both Erisa and Victoria fell to the training room floor, laughing.

"He-he-he-thought!" Erisa said as she could barely talk from laughing so hard about Thatch's knowledge on girls.

"Ha Ha ha. It's not _that _funny," Thatch said as he started to get flushed from his frustration with the two girls laughing at him.

"Ok, so what's up?" Victoria said as she got off of the floor and looked over at Thatch.

"Oh, the Old man would like to talk to both of you," Thatch said, his voice suddenly turning serious. This made Erisa quickly get off the training room floor and look at Victoria before turning back to look at Thatch.

"Please tell him that, after we clean up, we will be right there," Erisa said as she and Victoria quickly gathered their things and headed back to their cabin to clean up.

(~o0o~)

Erisa looked at Victoria who gave her a nod of approval as they slowly turned the door knob to White Beard's Cabin.

When they entered the room, they saw White Beard sitting at a large desk with a map spread across the top of it. Ace was at his left and Marco at his right, which told Erisa that this was obviously more than a visit.

"Well if it isn't our long time guests," White Beard said as he motioned Erisa and Victoria closer to the desk.

"It's nice to see you, sir," Erisa said as she gave White Beard a polite smile before looking down at the map.

"Yeah, nice to see you Old man!" Victoria said before Erisa could stop her. Marco and Ace had to let out a laugh at her casualness with White Beard when it was truly only her second time actually seeing the captain of the White Beard Pirates.

Though, White Beard just grinned at this as he continued talking to Erisa and Victoria.

"Now, I've called you two here today to tell you that we are coming near to the island which Sebastian Dormir is on, so tomorrow will be your final day of training with Ace and Marco. And as promised the next day after that I will drop you two off at the island," White Beard said, looking up in surprise to see, instead of worry, determination on their faces which made him grin at the two girls.

"Though, you will also be accompanied by Ace and Marco as well," White Beard said which made Victoria and Erisa look at him, their faces filled with surprise.

"No disrespect, but are you sure you want your first and second division captains with us instead of protecting your ship?" Erisa said, trying to hold back the fact that she was actually _super _relieved to know that it wouldn't be just her and Victoria against all of the Snake Head pirates.

White Beard then let out a throaty laugh which caused both Erisa and Victoria to jump a little, seeing that White Beard had always seemed so serious that they actually found it quite weird to see him laugh.

"Protect me? I need no protection from the weak wannabe pirates of this age," White Beard said proudly as he looked over at both Ace and Marco with a grin.

"Take it as reassurance. Now leave me," White Beard said, returning to his stern tone of voice as he ended any further debate on Ace and Marco accompanying Erisa and Victoria to the island.

_Well, I guess that's that. _Erisa thought to herself as she thanked White Beard once more and followed Victoria out of his large cabin.


	16. Chapter 16: A Fiery Confession!

**Chapter 16: A Fiery Confession!**

"Today's the day I take you down!" Erisa yelled triumphantly as she looked at Ace with a grin.

_He only thinks that I train with him like I used to do. Ha! Boy is he going to get it! I will win this time! _Erisa thought to herself as she readied her Devil Fruit ability.

"Well if you say so-" Before Ace could even finish his sentence, a shield flew up from the floor boards of the Moby Dick and hit Ace dead on.

"Bet you didn't see that coming!" Erisa said, feeling quite smug that her new move actually worked against Ace.

_W-what the hell? Her shield came up from the floor boards of the ship! How did she do that? _Ace thought to himself irritated but impressed that she was actually able to land a hit on him.

_She really has gotten better. _Ace thought to himself as he picked up his hat that had been knocked off and placed it on his head, looking up at Erisa with a grin.

"Someone learned a new move while I wasn't watching," Ace said as he covered his hands in flames.

"Yep, now I can make shields appear anywhere I want them to, and use them to either block, reflect, or attack. This is the full extent of my Devil Fruit abilities," Erisa said proudly at Ace who was still grinning.

"Well you better hope it's ENOUGH!" Ace yelled as he sent waves of flames towards Erisa.

Erisa slid gracefully across the deck of the Moby Dick, dodging Ace's waves of fire.

"Goei Goei Push!" Erisa yelled as she brought a shield from the sky down at Ace.

Ace quickly shot out a strong force of fire up at the shield that was threatening to collapse on top of him.

"Damn it!" Ace yelled out as his whole body seemed to erupt in flames. The heat of his flames made Erisa's shield vanish.

Just as Ace was about to grin in satisfaction that he had over-powered Erisa's shield, he heard a cry from behind him. Suddenly, he felt Erisa's arms wrap around him as she threw both of them down to the deck floor.

Ace's eyes widened in shock seeing as Erisa was now straddling him, pointing her hand at his face.

_I've never seen her try so hard before! _Ace thought to himself. He could hardly believe that he was actually fighting the same Erisa that he had been training with for so long.

"I've won," Erisa said, grinning down at Ace's shocked face.

_Now I know. I am now prepared to face the man who murdered my parents. _Erisa thought to herself as she felt a flame of determination light inside of her. Never before had she felt as confident as she did now, that she was finally getting close to achieving what she had promised herself long ago.

"Don't count me out so soon," Ace said suddenly as he bucked his hips into Erisa's, making her fall off of him. He was now the one straddling her as he pinned down both of her arms to the deck of the ship.

Erisa blushed deeply as she realized how this must have looked if anyone were to pass by and see them like they were. Ace's brown eyes seemed to burn into hers and she could do anything but look away from his intense gaze.

"There it is again," Ace said as he grinned down at Erisa's blushing face. The heaviness of his voice and his face so close to her was making Erisa's heart beat out of control.

"W-what are you talking about?!" Erisa said, trying to harden her gaze so that Ace couldn't see that she was nervous. It didn't work.

"You're getting all nervous and turning red when we are supposed to be in the middle of a fierce battle," Ace said in a questioning tone, making Erisa try and shift and escape from his grasp, but failing to do so due to his iron grip.

"Y-You know what!? Get off of me! Battle over!" Erisa yelled up at him as she waited for Ace to move, but he did not.

"No. I'm not letting you go until you answer my question," Ace said, his voice firm as he showed no signs of joking.

_Answer his question? What am I supposed to even say!? He'll know if I'm lying and I can't get out of his grip. _Erisa thought, her mind panicking as she could think of nothing to say.

Erisa looked up at Ace, failing to hide the fact that she was now super nervous now that Ace had her cornered and she knew that she _had _to answer him.

"Well-it's just that- you-uh-well-and," Erisa felt like a baby as she could only stutter out simple words, trying to avoid his intense gaze.

All of a sudden, Erisa felt Ace's soft lips pressed gently but fiercely against hers, making her freeze with shock.

_Ace is kissing me? _Erisa thought in shock as she kept her lips very still against his, taking in just what was happening.

_Ace is finally kissing me! _Erisa thought as the inner Erisa jumped for joy at this. Because as much as Erisa hated to admit it; ever since the pancake incident, all she could think about was how it would feel if he kissed her.

Ace then pulled back. His heart seemed to sink down all the way into his stomach.

_She didn't kiss me back. I'm so stupid!_ Ace thought to himself as he let go of Erisa's hands and was about to get up from the deck floor when, all of a sudden he felt Erisa wrap her legs around him and pull him down to her, making their lips meet again.

Erisa kissed Ace back more fiercely than she had planned to, but it was what she wanted. So she was just glad that she reacted in time before she had let Ace go, thinking that she didn't feel that way about him.

Erisa and Ace kissed each other passionately as they rolled around on the deck of the Moby Dick in each other's arms. All they saw, breathed, and wanted were each other as time seemed to freeze around them.

While Erisa continued to kiss Ace, she found that it seemed like her hands were moving on their own. She slid her hands down Ace's defined chest, making her give an involuntary shiver. Never before had she ever done something like this, or even kissed a boy at that.

The longer that Ace kept kissing Erisa the more that he found his self control quickly fading away. Ace failed to hold back a groan of shock and happiness as he felt Erisa's hand glide across his chest.

Ace found himself fighting hard to keep his hands from moving to places that they desperately wanted to go to. He clenched his fists tightly to avoid doing the…UN-gentlemanly things that were running through his head.

Erisa felt like her whole body was going up in flames as she and Ace continued to kiss passionately. She, too, felt her iron shields of self control quickly fading with every second more that they spent together.

"What the hell! I don't supervise two training sessions and THIS is what happens!?" Thatch yelled in utter shock as he saw Ace and Erisa wrapped tightly together in each other's arms.

Both Ace and Erisa broke their kiss as they looked up at the gaping Thatch before quickly jumping off each other, like a little girl would jump out of the shower when she unexpectedly sees a large spider.

"It's not what it-I mean, it is but-" Both Erisa and Ace stuttered to Thatch, trying to tell him that it wasn't what it looked it, when really it totally was.

"Come on Ace! I think you've had enough fun for today! And just wait 'till Maro hears about this!" Thatch said as he walked up and quickly grabbed Ace, dragging him away from the blushing Erisa who looked away from Thatch in embarrassment that she had been caught doing such a thing.

Erisa then looked up and grinned as she heard a quick whistle, finding Ace turned around to give her a quick wink before Thatch hit him hard on the head and dragged him out of sight.

_Well, that certainly wasn't expected. _Erisa thought to herself as she walked back to her cabin in a daze with a wide smile plastered across her face.


	17. Chapter 17:To Prove A Point

**Chapter 17: To Prove A Point**

_Damn, I can't believe Erisa was actually making out with Ace yesterday! I mean, I suspected that Fire cowboy had something for her, but really? I thought Marco would kiss me first! _Victoria thought to herself, pouting as she loaded her gun and aimed for the next target. She stared at Marco who was facing the opposite direction, reaching for another gun off of the gun rack.

_I mean, come on! I could have sworn we were closer to that than they were! _Victoria thought to herself, not even bothering to aim correctly at the target as she fired. The bullet nearly shot through the training room window, causing Marco to raise an eyebrow at her.

"Well, you're either really tired or just not even trying because, frankly that was the worst shot I've ever seen you shoot," Marco said with a confused look on his face as he raised his gun, shooting a clear bull's eye straight through the target that Victoria was supposed to hit.

"Just got distracted, that's all," Victoria lied through her teeth. She raised her gun again and shot a bull's eye as well, directly through the target.

Marco turned to look at her emerald green eyes as he raised an eyebrow at the girl who he could tell was lying to him.

"So, Erisa told you about what happened with her and Ace, right?" Marco said, grinning as he saw Victoria jump at the suddenness of his question.

_So that's what she was thinking about... _Marco thought as he noticed Victoria swear under her breath that he had actually figured out with such ease that she had been lying to him.

"Yep, looks like he just couldn't keep his hands off of her," Victoria said bluntly, loading her gun for the third time and turned to face Marco with a grin as she shot her gun without even looking at the target. It made the perfect kill shot.

"Wow, I'm impressed. Dead shot and you weren't even looking. You are improving," Marco said smugly at Victoria as he then shut both of his eyes and made the exact same shot that she had just done, though it made an even cleaner shot than hers. Marco opened his eyes and grinned over at Victoria who now had that competitive look in her eyes.

"And just for the record, it was actually _your _best friend who couldn't keep her hands off _my _best friend," Marco added on quickly before Victoria could even reply to his previous statement.

"What are you talking about, Erisa? The Erisa I know? Yeah right!" Victoria said, laughing at Marco who was for some reason grinning at this due to the point that he knew what Ace had told him. Obviously, Erisa must have been too embarrassed to tell her about what _exactly _had happened.

"'Cause we all know that, when it comes to things like _that,_ girls have way more self control than guys do," Victoria said bluntly, looking at Marco who was now laughing at her.

"Oh, so naïve," Marco said simply, shaking his head at Victoria's previous statement. He was obviously not agreeing with what she was saying.

"What do you mean 'naive'? I'm totally right!" Victoria said to Marco as an evil idea popped into her head. She moved closer to Marco who was still bent over laughing.

Suddenly Marco stopped laughing and, in one swift movement, he wrapped his arm around Victoria's waist and shoved a very shocked Victoria against the wall.

"See, you're already breathing hard and I've barely touched you," Marco said darkly. Victoria blushed deeply before she leaned forward and whispered into Marco's ear.

"Sure I'm blushing. But you're the one with your hands around me," Victoria said as she leaned closer into Marco. He swore to himself quietly but still loud enough for Victoria to hear, making her grin in success that she was winning in proving her point.

_Damn! I'm supposed to be proving my point here, but she's already making me look like I'm wrong. _Marco thought to himself before he then started to grin at Victoria.

"You know what; I don't care," Marco said grinning. Victoria stopped grinning at this and was about to ask him what he meant by that. Suddenly, he picked up her thigh and wrapped it around his waist as he leaned down and kissed her passionately.

"What-what are you doing Marco?" Victoria said in-between kisses, her heart beating wildly against his chest, making him grin.

"I'm losing," Marco said to Victoria, his voice very low, cursing himself that he didn't nearly have as much self control as Ace did.

Victoria kissed Marco's soft lips passionately and welcomed Marco's wandering hands.

_Who knew that always tired looking Marco I know could be like this. _Victoria thought to herself as she couldn't hold her laugh back any longer. This caused Marco to stop kissing her as he smiled down at her.

"Just what's so funny? This is supposed to be romantically steamy," Marco said as he continued to kiss Victoria's neck, making her blush deeply.

"I-It's just- This is unexpected," Vitoria said as she pulled up his head so that she could kiss his lips. She grinned against Marco's lips before she finally decided that she was done talking and wrapped her hands around Marco's neck, deepening their kiss.

Marco then ran his hands through Victoria's thick blonde hair as she too reached up to run her hands through his hair as well.

Victoria was 100% positive now. She did have feelings for Marco and he had feelings for her, too which gave her a feeling like no other. This wasn't the first time Victoria had kissed a boy, though it was the first time that she had kissed a boy like the way she was kissing Marco. Though, that was because she had never thought of a boy the way she thought of Marco. He was just different.

Suddenly Victoria was pulled out of her thoughts when Marco suddenly pulled away from her.

"Wh-what?" Victoria stuttered, feeling confused as she looked over at a blushing Marco.

"I'm sorry. This whole thing is not very subtle. I don't want you to think that I'm this kind of guy," Marco said shyly as he ran his hand through his blonde hair as she stared down at the floor of the training room.

At that moment Victoria smiled, knowing that _this _was one of the reasons that caused her to fall in love with the First Division captain of the White Beard Pirates.

"Marco, I would never think that you were like that because I know that you are not like that," Victoria said as she grinned at him and playfully punched him in the arm.

"Why suddenly so worried about what I think?" Victoria laughed playfully. Marco then smiled down and her and hugged her close to him. Though not answering her question, he didn't want to let her know why just yet...not like this.


	18. Chapter 18: Welcome To Stone Hedge

**Chapter 18: Welcome To Stone Hedge Cove**

"Hey, we are here!" Erisa and Victoria heard Thatch say from outside of their bedroom door.

"OK! We'll be there in a few!" Erisa said, trying to keep the sadness out of her voice as she looked over at Victoria who was also wearing the same depressed look.

"Well, this day came faster than I expected," Victoria said to Erisa with a frown as she started making their messy bed.

_And just when things were starting to get good with Marco... _Victoria thought as she threw one of the pillows at Erisa out of frustration.

"What was that for!?" Erisa said to Victoria, trying to sound angry but she was too focused on worrying about what was going to happen when they left the Moby Dick.

"You seriously can't tell me that you're not pissed that we're leaving!? Especially about what happened with you and Ace..." Victoria said to Erisa, throwing her hands up in frustration.

"Yes. I have to admit that I don't want to leave the ship and all, but this is something that I _have _to do," Erisa said to Victoria as she looked down at the pillow she had slept on for so many nights before gently setting it back down on the neatly made bed.

_Though, I can't help but wonder when we are finished with this whole thing. Are we just going to go back to our old lives without Ace and Marco as if nothing ever happened in the first place? _Erisa thought to herself as she felt pain spread through her heart at the thought that these upcoming days would be her last days with Ace.

"Yes, I understand how you feel. But you know that you don't have to do this," Victoria said to Erisa as she put her hand on Erisa's shoulder sympathetically.

"Yeah, I know that. But I need to," Erisa said to Victoria, her voice sounding confident. But even she feared what would be waiting for her on Stone Hedge Cove.

"Well, at least we will have Ace and Marco with us, so we can have some _fun_," Victoria said cheerfully to Erisa, giving her a perverted wink, making Erisa laugh. It actually did help calm her nerves. They took one last look at their temporary room and headed out to the front deck.

All of a sudden, Erisa broke out in nervous goose bumps as she took a look around the outside of the Moby Dick.

The sky was a dark purple and the water crashed fiercely against the Moby Dick as the island was surrounded by what looked like a dense fog. Though, past the fog you could make out a thick brash looking forest and the thing that stood out the most was a huge ship that was beached on the beach. At the top of the ship there was a black flag with a snake coming out of the eyes of the Jolly Roger. Erisa didn't even have to get a closer look to know whose ship that Jolly Roger belonged to.

"Well, doesn't this look like it's going to be a blast," Ace said to Erisa sarcastically, making it obvious that he didn't look thrilled to be heading out to the island.

Marco then came from behind Erisa and Victoria and punched Ace in the arm, giving him a look that said '_don't make this any worse'._

The whole crew was silent for a long time before it was White Beard's great throaty laugh that cut through the silence.

"Looks like you kids are going to be in for quite the adventure!" White Beard laughed like always. He took another gulp from the cup of sake he had.

"Thanks a ton for bringing us here and everything else that you've done for us," Erisa said as she bowed down to White Beard before nearly jumping out of her skin as she felt a large hand on her head.

"No need to bow anymore! You and your friend have been long enough on this ship to be considered family," White Beard said smiling as Erisa looked up at him with a smile.

"We will make sure that you and your friend get back to your home safely," White Beard said as Erisa and Victoria couldn't help but smile at this.

"Well, we are not getting any younger. Let's go!" Victoria yelled as she looked at Erisa, Ace, and Marco who all smiled at this as they said their temporary farewells to the White Beard Pirates and left on their way.

"Hey, Old man. I know they have Ace and Marco with them, but are they really going to be alright without us helping?" Thatch said questioningly to White Beard, not being able to hide the fact that, after taking a good look at Stone Hedge Cove and the size of the Snake Head pirates ship, he felt nervous for his crew mates and the two girls.

White Beard took another large gulp of sake before he gave Thatch a grin.

"Hn, Ace and Marco are more than capable of handling kids," White Beard said to Thatch as he looked over at the island with a grin.


	19. Chapter 19: An Ugly Surprise

**Chapter 19: An Ugly Surprise!**

"It sure turns dark on this island fast," Erisa said as she sat around the small fire that Ace and Marco had built in the dense forest.

"Yeah. All islands have different time zones so like for instance; this is one of the stormy night islands," Ace said to Erisa as he pointed up to the stormy dark looking sky.

"Well, that makes things a whole lot harder," Victoria said as she looked around the dense forest with a bit of an annoyed face.

_Of course the bad guy has to pick one of the most creepiest_ _islands_. Victoria thought to herself before remembering that she wasn't in the least helpless, feeling the heavy gun in her boot.

"Yeah, night fighting has never been easy. But at least we have the element of surprise on our side," Marco said, grinning smugly as he picked up a small nearby rock and tossed it into the fire.

"Yes, you're right Marco. No way will he get away this time," Erisa almost hissed as she looked into the fire with her face in her hands.

"Yeah, don't worry. Me and Marco have your back," Ace stated reassuringly as he gently placed his hand on Erisa's shoulder. They all sat around the fire quietly, totally unaware that they were being watched.

(~o0o~)

"The boss sure ain't going to like this," a skinny blonde man said as he smirked a cocky grin at the violet haired girl next to him who slapped him in the back of the head.

"Gensai, you idiot! Shut up! We can't afford to have those brats hear us!" The violet haired girl hissed under her breath at the frowning Gensai who was now rubbing the back of his head in pain.

"Habinari, you don't have to hit me so hard! You're always so violent," Gensai said as he looked at the Snake Head Pirates' weapon specialist with a frown. Her blue eyes were burning with annoyance at the Snake Head pirates' navigator.

"I don't see how you're our navigator when you're always so damn dense," Habinari said again at Gensai, making him light up in anger and turn and hit Habinari out of anger. Though just before the two broke out in an angry fight which would blow there cover, they were stopped when they felt a cold hand on both of their shoulders followed by a dark voice.

"If you two keep fighting like this, I'll have to find a new navigator and a new weapons specialist," Sebastian Dormir hissed at the two of them quietly, causing them to quickly turn around and bow to the captain of the Snake Head Pirates apologizing.

"We are very sorry captain. We should have known that this is not the place to settle things," Habinari and Gensai said at the same time, starring up at the Captain, begging for forgiveness.

"Captain, it was like you predicted. The little girl from a while ago has come here in search of your head," Habinari said to Sebastian, making him grin smugly as he peered through the dense bushes and saw Erisa sitting by the small fire next to Ace with Victoria and Marco sitting across from her.

"Well, this is troublesome. She has two of the most powerful pirates from the White Beard Pirates with her. This is definitely a problem," Sebastian said more to himself than to Habinari and Gensai as he starred at the tattoo on Ace's back with smug look.

"Captain, why are you smiling? Isn't this a serious problem?" Gensai said confused as he looked up at the wide grin on his captain's face.

"It _could _be a serious problem. We will force them to split up, then we will attack," Sebastian said with an evil glint in his eyes that even made his two subordinates nervous.

"And how do we do that captain?" Habinari questioned as she put both of her hands on her hip with a sigh.

"Habinari, come here," Sebastian said, his face unreadable as he motioned for the tall violet haired girl to come closer to him.

Habinari, feeling a bit hesitant, walked towards her captain and started to protest when he reached into her shirt and pulled out a long green hissing snake.

"Captain, what are you planning on doing with my baby?!" Habinari almost yelled before having to remind herself to keep her voice down. She started throwing a fit, thinking of how he would always end up killing her pet snakes which, even though he was her captain, really pissed her off. She watched him closely as he held her "baby" around his arm with a grin.

Sebastian pulled out a small glass vile necklace filled with a strange green fluid from around his neck and looked over at Erisa's group who were now sleeping quietly near the fire, before turning his view to Victoria who was sleeping peacefully, her back pressed against Marco's with a smile on her face.

"Ningyou Ningyou," Sebastian hissed under his breath as he stared down at the snake with a grin. The snake suddenly stopped moving and lay limply in his hand. He then dropped the limp snake on the ground, ignoring Habinari's protest as he held out his hands and pointed at the snake, making it turn a shade of red. He then moved his hands, making the snake move towards the blonde sleeping girl with an evil grin on his face.

"Let's see how they handle this," Sebastian hissed as he willed the snake forward until it was right near Victoria's out streched hand. He lifted his hands in the air which made the snake lift its head and motioned his hands swiftly downward, causing the snake to dig its poisoned fangs deep into Victoria's hand.


	20. Chapter 20: Start The Countdown

**Chapter 20: Start the Countdown**

As Erisa, Ace and Marco walked in front of her, Victoria tried hard to focus on their movements. For some reason, when she had woken up she had felt horribly sick. Though, she knew how much Erisa had gone through and the last thing she wanted to do was hold the group back from doing what they came to do.

"This forest is pretty damn thick," Ace complained as he constantly had to shove greenery out of his way.

"Yeah- Hey!" Erisa yelled at Ace as the shrubbery he had just moved out of his way came back and hit her across the face which made everyone laugh - except for Victoria.

_My legs, my arms...they feel so heavy. _Victoria thought to herself as she actually had to stop to catch her breath. She brought up her hand to wipe the perspiration from her forehead when she saw a deep puncture wound in her hand.

"Victoria? Hey Victoria, you ok?" Marco said with a worried expression on his face as he yelled for Ace and Erisa, causing all three of them to run over to Victoria who was bent over on the ground, shaking.

Marco quickly sprinted over to Victoria just in time to catch her as she collapsed into him, breathing hard.

"M-Marco," was all Victoria said as she passed out in Marco's arms.

"Victoria!? Victoria!?" Marco said as he shook Victoria slightly in his arms, obviously worried.

"Damn it! I should have caught it earlier! She's burning up," Marco said as he picked up Victoria bridal style when suddenly, all three of their mouths dropped.

"Marco! Her hand!" Erisa said, snapping out of her shocked daze as she reached out and grabbed Victoria's hand with the snake bite.

Ace walked over and swore as he examined Victoria's hand that Erisa held.

"This doesn't look good, I've seen a bite like this before," Ace said as he turned Victoria's hand over and traced the inside of her veins.

"She's been poisoned – badly. These are the markings only a snake could leave. So I'm guessing it was a-"

"A baby Archback Viper. Truly my favorite!" A cocky feminine voice rang out, interrupting Ace. The whole group ran down the hill into a clearing where they spotted a woman sitting on a very large snake, surrounded by pirates.

"Who are you!? And what have you done to my friend!?" Erisa called out to the violet haired woman, trying to keep calm even though she was boiling with anger.

"My name is Habinari, weapons expert of the Snake Head Pirates and this is my baby, Clove," Habinari said causally as she petted the large emerald green snake with a wide grin.

_I should have known. _Erisa thought to herself as she looked over and glared at Habinari.

She noticed how obnoxious the woman dressed, with blood red tight spandex pants that had rips in them and a fishnet shirt with a dark purple bandeau underneath to cover herself. Though the biggest give-away was her dark red forehead protector that kept her violet hair out of her face and in her sleek ponytail which bore the jolly roger of the Snake Head pirates.

"And it was the Baby of Clove here that did that to your friend over there while you kiddies were sleeping oh so peacefully. What fools you are! Did you honestly think we didn't know that you wannabe's are here?" Habinari yelled down at them, causing all of the pirates surrounding them to laugh.

"Miss you better watch who you're calling 'wannabe'," Ace said as he covered his hands in flames, causing the surrounding pirates around them to start whispering to themselves.

"Oh crap! Isn't that Fire Fist Ace?!"

"Hey, that's Marco the Phoenix from the White Beard crew, too!"

"The captain didn't mention _them _when he told us about this!"

"SHUT UP!" Habinari yelled down at the pirates, causing them all to go silent.

"I don't give a damn who they are! Orders are orders!" Habinari shouted down at them, causing them to stop all the whispering and they started drawing their weapons.

"Hey! Where is the antidote?!" Erisa yelled up at Habinari, causing her to grin as she pulled out a glass vile filled with green fluid from her pocket with a grin.

"Oh well, don't we catch on fast. This is the _only _antidote that there is and frankly; if you can't manage to take it from me before the sun sets, your friend over there is as good as dead. So you should just give up now," Habinari shouted down as the giant snake hissed at Erisa's group while the pirates started cheering.

Erisa was glaring profusely and was about to send out an attack when she felt Marco's hand on her shoulder.

"Guys, leave this to me. Go ahead and find out where their bastard captain is," Marco said, his tone serious but Erisa could see the rage in his eyes.

"Marco, I'm counting on you," Erisa said as she looked up at Marco, then down at Victoria who lay limply in his arms.

_Please be OK. _Erisa thought as she took one more look at her best friend, then back at Marco. She and Ace then ran in the opposite direction, leaving Marco to deal with Habinari and her pet Clove as well as the pirates that surrounded them.

"Hey! Don't let those two get away!" Habinari shouted before Marco gently sat down Victoria near the base of a tree and kissed her on the forehead. He then looked at Habinari with a grin and a spark of rage in his eyes.

"If you want to stop them, you're going to have to get through me first."


	21. Chapter 21: Rage Of The Phoenix

**Chapter 21: Rage Of The Phoenix**

"Get through you, huh? What a joke! Attack this cocky fool! And slaughter the unconscious girl," Habinari yelled, pointing at Marco menacingly from on top of Clove as all of the Snake Head Pirates drew their weapons and started running towards Marco.

Marco willed his blue phoenix wings and flew up into the air as the pirates of course shot their guns high into the air, trying to shoot him down.

"It's not working! Our bullets are just flying through him!" A man yelled before Marco flew down swiftly and kicked him hard in the gut, sending him flying into a row of pirates, knocking them all down.

Habinari became angrier and angrier as she watched Marco take out the pirates as if they were nothing. Snapping their weapons like tooth picks, Habinari knew that it wouldn't be long before the pirates finally figured out that they were in no way even _close _to matching the power that Marco had. This made Habinari sweat as she, too realized that the chance of her defeating the legendary Marco the Phoenix was just as slim as theirs.

_He may be able to defeat me. But I'm the one who holds that girl's life in my hands! _Habinari thought to herself as she smiled menacingly at Victoria before yelling down at her giant snake.

"Clove! Stay here! Attack whoever tries to follow me up the mountain! If I can't defeat him for the captain, at least I can stall him so he can't help the others!" Habinari yelled, causing the snake to hiss as she leaped off the snake and started to run up the mountain.

_Damn! The witch is getting away with the antidote! I don't have time for these losers. _Marco thought to himself while he continued to fight with the multitude of pirates when he suddenly heard a loud gun shot behind him.

"Victoria!" Marco yelled, cursing himself for letting someone get behind him like that as he turned around. His worried expression was then replaced with a grin as he saw Victoria leaning against a tree with her pistol in hand, grinning at him.

"I thought you were protecting me?" Victoria said, grinning smugly, her voice hoarse from the poison running through her veins. She leaned heavily against the trunk of the tree due to the fact that her legs were so weak she could barely find the strength to stand.

Marco felt of surge of relief run through him as he saw that at least she was now standing. Though he knew just as well as she did that time was certainly running out and that he had no time to waste anymore on the petty pirates - he needed to go after the antidote, and fast.

Victoria, seeming to read Marco's mind, willed all the energy she had and stopped leaning on the tree, yelling over at him.

"Marco! Do what you must! You can leave these guys to me!" Victoria yelled as she forced her body into a run and started firing at the pirates who actually seemed quite relieved that they had a target other than Marco.

"No! You're too weak! If I leave you here, you will likely get killed! I won't do it!" Marco yelled down at her, not paying attention to his surroundings. Suddenly he heard a loud hissing as he was sent flying by the giant snake into a tree trunk.

"Marco!" Victoria yelled as she shot her pistol into the man in front of her and tried to run over to him, but her legs fell from under her, causing her to fall to the group breathing hard as the only thing she could do to keep herself alive was fire her gun at the pirates who just kept charging at her.

(~o0o~)

"Do you think Marco is going to be OK handling all of them by himself?" Erisa asked Ace as she could only imagine herself, having to fight so many opponents at one time.

"He'll be fine. He's been with White Beard since the time of Gold D. Roger. He's stronger than I am," Ace said reassuringly as he and Erisa were now far away from Marco and Victoria on the other part of the island. And the deeper they got into the island, the more the trees started to wilt and loose leafs and the air started to get foggy, making the island look more like a large cemetery without the graves instead of the green jungle they had started in.

Erisa and Ace walked in silence for a long time until Ace put his arms out to block Erisa from walking any further and pointed to the distance. Erisa strained her eyes to see through the fog and she spotted the outline of a man walking towards them.

"Well, well. Long time no see Erisa," Erisa heard a sickening voice say as she saw none other than Sebastian Dormir walk out of the thick fog. He gave her the same nasty grin that she had remembered from long ago, making her clench her fists in anger.

"So it has been," Erisa said, clenching her fists as she tried to keep a calm exterior.

"Just as I expected. Looks like Habinari failed to separate all of you. Though, I'm just glad I thought up a plan ahead of time," Sebastian said grinning, causing fear to rip through her when she suddenly saw a red aura burning around Ace.

"Ace? Ace!" Erisa called out, turning around to see that Ace was fully enveloped in a red aura. His brown eyes were now red orbs as he suddenly covered his hands with flames.

"You Bastard! This was supposed to be between me and you! You're a coward!" Erisa cried out, seething with rage. She didn't care if Sebastian knew that she had lost her temper.

"I don't think I recall demonstrating my Devil Fruit abilities to you. Let me show you," Sebastian said as his eyes narrowed at Erisa, giving her a grin.


	22. Chapter 22: Checkmate

**Chapter 22: Checkmate**

"Goei Goei block!" Erisa yelled as another spiral blast of flames came shooting at her. Just the full force of Ace's flames made Erisa have to dig her heels in the dirt so that she would not go flying back.

"ACE! Snap out of it! ACE, please!" Erisa yelled as she again had to put up a shield in order so that the flames could not reach her. Though, it was obvious that Ace really hadn't tried his hardest when they were fighting and that, no matter how much Erisa called his name he was unable to hear her due to power of the Devil Fruit that Sebastian possessed.

"You can't keep blocking my attacks doll face! Or well, you can but eventually Ace here will find a way to get past that bothersome shield of yours," Sebastian yelled with a smile as he moved his hands jerkily, making Ace throw balls of fire at Erisa.

_I don't want to hurt Ace. I don't even want to fight him. But he's right! If I just keep blocking, eventually he'll find a way to get me. _Erisa thought as she ducked at the right moment, dodging Ace's attacks.

And that's when she saw it. As Sebastian moved Ace, she noticed that there were red energy-like strings connecting Ace's body to Sebastian's hands.

_Why didn't I notice that earlier! All I need to do is sever the strings connecting him and Ace, and Ace will be free! _Erisa thought as she grinned.

"Goei Goei shield!" Erisa yelled as she pointed her hands to the sky and pulled down, causing another one of her energy shields to almost drop down on the strings that connected Ace and Sebastian. Though it did not break them, it blocked the range so that Sebastian at least couldn't control Ace's mind. Erisa felt a rush of relief when she saw Ace's eyes turning back to their normal color.

"Ace!" Erisa yelled from a far, being careful not to remove the shield that held down Sebastian's energy strings.

"Uh, what the hell is going on? I remember- that bastard!" Ace said as he then recalled what had happened, anger flowing through him that he had been manipulated so easily.

"Don't worry. It should only take one more of my shields to sever the connection between the two of-" Erisa was then cut off by the loud sickening laughter of Sebastian, causing her to clutch her fists in anger.

"Just what the hell is so funny!?" Erisa yelled angrily as Sebastian stopped his laughter and gave Erisa a grin.

"I thought that you eventually found out how to counter my Devil Fruit with your own. So that's why I made sure that my energy is connected to Ace's vital spot - his heart. And my energy has a way of giving people quite the shock when severed without my approval. So chances are high all you'll be doing when you sever our connection is killing your boyfriend over there," Sebastian said with a grin as he reached into his shirt and pulled out a jagged knife, starting to walk towards Erisa slowly.

_Kill Ace. _Erisa's mind seemed to freeze in shock as she looked over at Ace who seemed to be yelling at her, but she could not hear him.

"And what do you know, I just found out the weakness to your Devil Fruit as well. You're holding up your shield from severing me and Ace's connection so that must mean if I were to attack you, you couldn't - no wouldn't defend yourself because that would mean killing your dear friend over there." Sebastian then laughed as he continued to approach Erisa with his knife, laughing as he saw Erisa visibly shake with rage.

_Erisa! No! This can't be happening! She's going to sacrifice her own life for mine! NO! This can't happen like this! _Ace thought as he desperately tried to move, though Sebastian forced his body to stay under Erisa's shield.

"DO IT! ERISA, DAMN IT! CUT THE LINKS BETWEEN US! NOW!" Ace yelled, causing Erisa to turn and look at him in shock.

"No Ace! That would kill you! I won't do it! I'd rather die!" Erisa yelled, forcing back the tears that were burning in the back of her eyes from anger.

"Erisa, listen to me! When he kills you, your shield is going to drop on me anyway! I'm dead either way!" Ace yelled, causing a tear to run down the side of Erisa's face as she realized that he was right.

Sebastian got closer and closer and Ace's yells grew louder as Erisa stood there frozen. She then turned to Ace with tears streaming down her face as Sebastian was now so close to Erisa that he leaned forward and whispered in her ear.

"Checkmate." Sebastian whispered as he reared back his knife to stab Erisa. Suddenly he stopped and took several steps back and clutched at his chest as it started to burn. Sebastian then bent over and coughed up blood.

"W-What the hell did you do!" Sebastian yelled angrily as he looked up at Erisa, seeing that she was still crying. Sebastian looked over and grinned at the sight of Ace's lifeless body.

"Ha! What do you know, the princess actually did-" Sebastian couldn't even finish his sentence as he yelled out in pain. He felt four of his ribs suddenly break, causing him to cough up blood all over the ground.

"You took my mother," Erisa said as she slowly walked toward Sebastian who yelled out in pain as the other side of his ribs suddenly broke.

"You took my father," Erisa said again as she then reared her leg back and kicked Sebastian's huddled up body, making him yell out, blood coming from the side of his mouth.

"You have taken everything from me. And now you will pay the price," Erisa said, anger burning within her, numbing the pain she felt.

"W-W-What? H-How?" Sebastian said, gasping as he looked up at the supposedly weak girl.

"The ability of the Goei Goei fruit is that I can make shields come up wherever I want them too. And use those shields to either guard myself, block attacks, or even use them as offensive attacks," Erisa said as she then saw Sebastian's eyes widen with fear.

"Yes. I have placed one of my shields within you, right near your heart," Erisa said as she got down on one knee and looked down at the man who had caused so much pain in her life.

"You are heartless and you are cocky. And you have killed many innocent people. I'm done with you," Erisa said seriously as she got up and looked over at him before she turned her head and started walking away from him.

"Checkmate," Erisa said, throwing his own words back at him as the captain of the Snake Head Pirates was forever silenced.

Erisa ran over to Ace and dropped on her knees as she pulled his body onto her lap.

"Ace, I'm so sorry. I couldn't save you and it's my fault that you even got dragged into all of this! It should have been me to die, not you. I-I-I- l-love you so much," Erisa said as she couldn't hold back her tears anymore. She yelled into the sky before placing her head on Ace's chest and cried harder than she had cried in a long time.

Suddenly she felt a hand on her back, making her open her eyes in surprise to see Ace's brown eyes gazing down at her. She widened her eyes in shock as she looked at his freckled face in surprise.

"You know, I was supposed to tell you that first. Not the opposite way around," Ace said as Erisa suddenly leaned in and kissed him hard on the lips. And of course Ace returned the kiss with much enthusiasm as he wrapped his arms tightly around her.

"How did you? I thought that you were dead," Erisa said as she reluctantly pulled away from their kiss as she helped Ace get up from the ground.

"That bastard was bluffing. Yes, I did receive quite the shock when you severed that energy crap that connected us, but certainly not enough to kill me. He just said that in hopes that you would let him kill you in order to 'save' me," Ace said, causing Erisa to want to run over and kick Sebastian's corpse once more, though she resisted the urge.


	23. Chapter 23: End Game

**Chapter 23: End Game**

_Damn it! I don't think I can keep this up for much longer! _Victoria thought as she reloaded her gun as quickly as she could, though her hands were shaking badly from the poison that still ran through her body.

"What's wrong girly? You look a little pale," a pirate teased before Victoria gave him a glare as she punched him hard right under his chin, like Marco had taught her. She sent the man flying towards the ground, unconscious.

"You probably shouldn't have insulted someone who can kick your ass. Though, I bet you know that now, assuming that you can even hear me," Victoria said teasingly as she bent down towards the unconscious man and gave him a quick two slaps across the face.

_Well, at least if I die they can't say that I just lay down and did nothing to try and save myself. _Victoria thought to herself as she looked over a couple yards to see Marco fighting hard against Habinari's giant snake.

_Please hurry Marco. _Victoria thought as she steadied herself and continued to fight the many pirates that kept approaching her.

(~o0o~)

Marco dived down from the air a second time, causing the giant snake to screech in pain as Marco's blue flames made connection with its skin. It collapsed to the ground with a loud crash, causing all the pirates to look in fear as Marco didn't even give them a second glance as he flew past them all and headed up the same hill that Habinari had run up.

_I have to get that antidote! And I'm running out of time! It's only a matter of time before... _Marco thought to himself as he landed on the ground on the hill and ran on foot just so he could make sure he wouldn't miss Habinari from the sky.

_Uh! NO WAY! He finished my baby Clover that fast!? _Habinari thought to herself as she could sense that her dear 'baby' had passed away. This made fear start to creep up her back as she remembered how mad Marco the Phoenix had looked when she had left him.

_This is so stupid! Sebastian I love you, so I'm doing this for you. Though, maybe I should give Marco what he wants. I mean, after all I didn't plan to die doing this! _Habinari thought to herself, revealing just how much of a coward she actually was.

Since the whole reason why Habinari had joined the Snake Head Pirates in the first place was because she'd fallen in love with Sebastian Dormir when his crew came into the bar that she had been working in. Other than that, she could really care less about being a pirate and in fact she really didn't even _want _to be one.

Though, what Habinari failed to realize was that Marco was already right behind her and he truly was angrier than he had been in a long time.

"Give it up. The antidote. Now!" Marco said, turning his arms into his well known Phoenix wings to show her just how serious he was.

_Damn! He's found me already!? _Habinari thought as she panicked while looking into Marco's angry face.

"And why would I do that?" Habinari said as she took out the vial filled with the antidote and gazed dramatically at the setting sun. She was acting as if she was not afraid of Marco in the slightest when in reality, it was the total opposite.

"Because I have no problem killing you to get it. And you know that I'm much more experienced than you could even hope to be," Marco said, making his tone sharp and his expression dead serious. Though, really Marco never did like attacking women. But he knew if it came to either having to attack her or let Victoria die, there was no way he'd let her stand in his way of saving the girl he had fallen in love with.

Habinari thought to herself or, well, tried to think of a way to escape from the much more experienced pirate. But she knew once she tried to fool him, he would certainly attack her. So after swearing to herself she tossed the vial filled with the antidote into Marco's hands.

Marco quickly took the vial and gave Habinari one last glance before he quickly flew into the air and headed down the mountain to go save the woman that he loved.

(~o0o~)

Victoria's vision started to blur so bad to the point to where she had to actually lay down on the grass so that she wouldn't collapse. She had defeated all of the pirates who either ran off injured or were on the ground, dead.

The sun was almost set and Victoria felt so weak that she could barely withstand to hold up her own head.

_Well, at least I got to make out with Marco. Though I wish I could have told him that I love him. _Victoria thought to herself as she then lay her head all the way down on the cold grass.

_And Erisa, I'm sorry to have to leave you like this. Hopefully that Fire throwing cowboy will take good care of you._ Victoria thought to herself as she almost fully closed her heavy eyelids. She suddenly saw someone who she could barely tell who as he pulled her onto his lap.

"Victoria, I'm here. Come on drink this," Marco said as he looked down at the very limp and pale looking Victoria who seemed to be barely conscience.

"Nope! I bet that's going to be nasty!" Victoria said as she poked Marco in the chest, the poison now almost fully running through her body, making her act almost in a drunk manner.

"Victoria! Snap out of it! And drink that damn stuff or you're going to die!" Marco said to Victoria as he looked over to see that the sun was almost set.

"You know what, forget it!" Marco said as he himself poured the antidote into his mouth, then bent down and kissed Victoria, forcing the antidote into her mouth as she fought like a little kid under him.

He then sat up when he saw red starting to spread to Victoria's cheeks as she gasped for air right as the sun finally set.

"That was too close. It sure took you long enough. I thought I was going to die!" Victoria said as her vision cleared and her body started returning to normal.

"You and me both, especially since I literally had to force it down your throat," Marco said as he lay down next to her on the ground, both of them gazing up at the night sky.

"Looks like this crap is finally over. I just hope Erisa is alright," Victoria said as she turned to look into Marco's eyes.

"They'll be fine. They are stronger than they look," Marco said reassuringly as he gazed back into Victoria's eyes with a grin.

"Uh-Marco? When I was like dying in all, there was a couple things that I wanted to say and one of them was to you. So-" Before Victoria could finish her sentence, Marco leaned over and gently kissed Victoria.

"I love you, Victoria," Marco said as Victoria grinned at him.

"I love you, too Marco the Phoenix," Victoria said as she pulled Marco into herself and kissed him deeply.


	24. Chapter 24: True Pirates

**Chapter 24: True Pirates**

It was dawn by the time Erisa, Victoria, Ace and Marco all got back onto the Moby Dick and left the gloomy island of Stone Hedge Cove far behind them. The sun was bright and for the first time, Erisa actually felt the best she had felt in a while. The heavy weight of the past had finally been lifted off of her. And the best part was that she had not only defeated the past, but had gained new friends and not to mention a smoking hot boyfriend as well.

"I can't believe it's finally over," Erisa said as she looked over the waves of the water, her brunette hair blowing gently in the wind. Ace's arm then wrapped tightly around her and pulled her closer to himself.

"Yeah, it really was something, wasn't it?" Ace said as he looked into Erisa's brown eyes and smiled.

"Yes, it was. I'm just glad that I can move on now, and begin new things," Erisa said as she looked up Ace who was now grinning. He leaned down and put his hand gently on Erisa's cheek as he pulled her in for a passionate kiss. They had only been dating for a couple hours, but Ace could already tell when Erisa wanted to kiss him and what she was feeling.

And though he hated how Thatch instantly called him "going soft" when he found out about Erisa and him dating, he was glad to say that he had rescued Erisa from that burning pirate ship. And though he never thought of himself as the type to find a girl, fall in love, and all that stuff, he could now not see himself spending the future with anyone but Erisa.

"I think I'm never going to get tired of that," Erisa said as she looked up at Ace, her cheeks flushed and her breathing was off from kissing him for so long.

"I certainly hope you don't," Ace said with a grin as Erisa couldn't help but blush and scold herself as not so lady-like thoughts popped into her head. She leaned into Ace's chest with a sigh.

Erisa smiled as she thought of how earlier she had been so surprised when they had all gotten back on the Moby Dick to hear White Beard say that her and Victoria, if they wanted to, could actually join the White Beard Pirates. And certainly if they had asked her this the first time she had met them, she would have certainly quickly replied with a 'no'. But hearing White Beard say those words and the thought of being able to stay on the ship they had now come to think of as home filled Erisa with joy as both her and Victoria quickly jumped at the opportunity, barely able to withstand their excitement.

"I never thought that I would ever grow up and become a pirate," Erisa said as she laughed, making Ace look down at her with a fake offended look.

"What's so bad about being a pirate!? You get to storm the sea wild and free while getting treasure and kicking people's asses!" Ace said, making Erisa laugh even harder.

"Well, look at these two love birds," Victoria said as she startled Erisa as she and Marco came up from behind her. Erisa jumped away from Ace out of instinct, as if they had been caught doing something they weren't supposed to.

"You know, you don't have to jump away from Fire Cowboy over there. I'm pretty sure everyone knows that you two are dating," Victoria teased as Ace gave her an annoyed look.

"Fire Cowboy? Your nickname for me is Fire Cowboy?" Ace said, his eyebrow raised in annoyance. It was clear he just now picked up on the fact that Victoria actually never called him by his name but by this ridiculous nickname.

Marco and Erisa clutched their stomachs as they bent over in laughter, making Ace get clearly frustrated.

"Yeah, I think the nickname's pretty fitting," Victoria said grinning, making Ace groan as he readjusted his hat.

"No, it's not. You make me sound like some male prostitute!" Ace said as he looked over at Erisa who choked back her laughter.

"Are there embarrassing nicknames I should know about while we are on the subject?" Marco questioned, looking down at Victoria who grinned back up at him. Marco always did love it when Victoria got into these moods, though now since they too were dating, he could actually admit that he did.

"No. Actually, now that I think of it… Erisa why didn't we give Marco a nickname?" Victoria said to Erisa before they all just started laughing.

"Hey, now that we are official on the crew, does that mean that we will also get bounties and all that?" Erisa said as she tried to picture herself running from Marines and having her face on a wanted poster.

"Hm. Usually the marines tend to keep their distance from the Old man, though I guess it is possible," Marco said as they all looked out onto the sea with a smile.

_It's still hard to believe that losing that card game, getting captured by the Hell Hound pirates and getting forced to eat a Devil Fruit could lead me to be rescued by the White Beard pirates themselves, avenge my parents and actually fall in love in the end. It's amazing that I'm now the thing that I used to hate the most, but yet I've never been happier. I guess this is what a true pirate feels like. _Erisa thought to herself as she met Ace's gaze before she stood slightly on her tip toes as she wrapped her arms around Ace's neck, feeling him grin against her lips as they stood there on the Moby Dick, embracing each other passionately.

**THE END**

~ 2 ~


End file.
